Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor
by sprinter1988
Summary: Before the start of fifth year, Dumbledore changes the plans. Unfortunately he didn't bother to inform Harry. At his trial, Harry realises that it is down to him to save his own skin. To do so, his Slytherin side must come out to play, and once it's out, it sticks around. Now Dumbledore and the Ministry alike must watch their backs…
1. The Hearing

**A/N: Hello again. Here we go with a shiny new story. I will point out that although the key characters in this are given as Harry Potter and Susan Bones, I currently have no idea was to whether or not they will be the pairing for this story. At the moment I am leaning towards "yes" but it has yet to be set in stone. **

_Plot description: Before the start of fifth year, Dumbledore changes the plans. Unfortunately he didn't bother to inform Harry. At his trial, Harry realises that it is down to him to save his own skin. To do so, his Slytherin side must come out to play, and once it's out, it sticks around. Now Dumbledore and the Ministry alike must watch their backs…_

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 1: The Hearing

With violent lurch the Knight Bus came to a stop. Harry Potter turned to watch as Stan Shunpike, the bus conductor, saw a rather ill-looking Madam Marsh off of the bus. Then the doors snapped shut and with yet another violent lurch the purple triple-decker bus sped off once again.

Shifting his body to try and find a less painful sitting position, Harry could not help but notice that more than a few of the other passengers were giving him funny looks. This was nothing unusual, of course. Ever since he had re-joined the wizarding world at the age of eleven all kinds of people had been giving him funny looks. The difference now though was that, whereas before the funny looks had a touch of mild curiosity about them, now they contained suspicion and mistrust.

Harry turned away from them in an attempt to ignore them. As he did so he felt a prickle of pain shoot through the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. Harry was aware that the pain was somehow caused by his nemesis Lord Voldemort, though he had no idea how it was being done.

Harry turned his head to rest his forehead against the window of the bus. It was cool and helped soothe the area around the scar. He took a deep, calming breath and closed his eyes before beginning to think over the events that had led him taking this ride on the Knight Bus.

At the end of the previous school year Harry and another student, Cedric Diggory, had been kidnapped from the school by a portkey. Cedric had subsequently been murdered, and Harry used in a ritual to bring Lord Voldemort, one of the most evil wizards ever to walk the earth, back to life. Harry had managed to pull off an escape from Voldemort, and gotten back to the school and tried to raise the alarm. There was a problem, however; whilst Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School had believed Harry to be telling the truth, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic had not. With the Ministry not prepared to face up to the truth, Dumbledore had taken matters into his own hands and reconvened some kind of vigilante group in the hope of tackling Voldemort and his followers.

And that was all that Harry knew on that front. He had gone home from Hogwarts with all the other students when the school year had ended on the third of July and then for a whole month he had heard nothing. No word from Dumbledore, no word from Harry's Godfather, Sirius Black, and no word from either of Harry's two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. No letters, not a telephone call from Hermione, nothing. Not even when he sent off letters asking for answers with his snowy owl Hedwig.

After the third attempt, Hedwig had not returned.

Harry had been so desperate for news that he had actually begun a subscription to the wizarding newspaper The Daily Prophet. Harry had had bad experiences with the Daily Prophet during the past year, particularly one of its reporters, Rita Skeeter, but in the end his desire for news had won out against his personal distaste of the newspaper and its unscrupulous journalists. That, though, had been a wasted effort. If Voldemort was active and attacking people then it would have been front page news. Harry didn't bother to read the papers as they arrived; he merely glanced over the front page and, seeing nothing pointing to the activities of Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters, he ignored the rest. He had decided that either Voldemort was playing a waiting game, or, far more likely in Harry's opinion, the Ministry was engaging in a cover-up and putting pressure on the staff of The Daily Prophet to keep quiet.

After a month of being away from Hogwarts and the magical world, Harry had begun to really feel the strain. An orphan, he lived with non-magical relatives from his mother's side of the family. They did not like him and the feeling was very much a mutual one. By the second of August Harry had been reaching the end of his tether. Between his hateful relatives, the lack of news and the weather of Britain suddenly deciding to roast everyone with a heat wave, Harry Potter was just looking for an excuse to take out his magic wand and give someone a good hexing. That evening Harry had bumped into his bullying cousin Dudley. Words between them quickly became heated and, sensing that Dudley about ready to throw a punch, Harry had drawn his wand.

Then it happened.

Two Dementors, monstrous, wraith like beings that fed on the happy memories of people and sucked out their souls had swooped down upon Harry and Dudley, attacking them. Harry had utilised the only effective method of repelling a Dementor, the patronus charm, in order to send the two terrifying abominations fleeing, saving not only his own life but the life of his cousin as well.

Following that event, several things had happened one after another. First Mrs Figg, a batty old neighbour, had arrived on the scene. She had revealed herself to be a Squib (a person born to a magical family but had no magic themselves) and then informed Harry that Dumbledore's people had been keeping an eye on him all summer, following his every move.

Fat lot of good they were if the best that could be provided in a crisis was a Squib.

Dudley was far from being alright after his encounter with the Dementors. Once Harry had gone through the immense effort of dragging the fat tub of lard back home, his relatives were far from grateful. Utterly convinced that he had done something to harm their precious son, Harry's Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had been all for throwing him out on the street. It was testament to how deep his loathing of his family ran that Harry actually found this to be a highly tempting offer.

Then, for the first time in a month, word from the magical world came. It was a letter, delivered by an owl from the Ministry of Magic, informing him that he was now expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This just gave his relatives more encouragement to throw him out onto the streets. With the Ministry also threatening to snap his wand, Harry had been all for making a run for it right there and then. At that moment, however, a flurry of letters from his friend Ron's Dad, from Harry's Godfather and from the Ministry had turned that plan on its head. Though the three letters had barely contained thirty words between them, the gist of their message had been that Harry was not expelled yet, but would have to attend a disciplinary hearing that the Ministry on the twelfth of August.

And that was where he was heading right now.

In the days that had passed since the Dementor attack, Harry had heard nothing from anyone. He had long since given up hope of receiving any friendly correspondence from anyone, but was it too much to ask that someone, either from the Ministry or from Dumbledore's lot would have made contact in order to make arrangements for him to get to the Ministry of Magic building, especially given how he had never been to the place in his life?

Evidently it was too much to ask, as no one had bothered to get in contact with him to offer up any such information and, without Hedwig, Harry had been unable to send a letter containing his questions.

It was just as well that, before his third year at Hogwarts, Harry had discovered the convenient, if stomach-churning service provided by the Knight Bus (as they had sure as hell never mentioned it at school!) Several hours before his hearing at the Ministry, Harry had left the home of his relatives and flagged down the Knight Bus. There had been a few people already on board before he got on, but he was assured that he would arrive at the Ministry of Magic in plenty of time.

With another lurch the Knight Bus came to a stop, this time to pick up someone, and then it sped off again.

After having a word with first the new passenger, and then with Ernie Prang, the driver of the bus, Stan the conductor made his way along the aisle between the rows of seats to Harry.

"A'right 'Arry?" he asked "We just got an passenger on board 'oo needs to get to da Leaky Cauldron 'sumfink fast, so we is gonna change our course an' drop her off an' den you."

Harry nodded in acceptance "That's fine."

To be honest, although he was dreading the upcoming hearing, he could hardly wait to get off the Knight Bus. Had he eaten anything more than a single slice of dry, slightly stale bread for his breakfast that morning, then he was reasonably certain that violent jostling of the Knight Bus would have caused him to throw it up by now.

The bus made the drop off outside the Leaky Cauldron and then sped off once more. Then, all of a sudden they were stopped again with Stan loudly announcing "Ministry o' Magic, Visitor's Entrance."

Harry got to his feet and got off the bus. He was surprised to find himself facing, not some kind of grandiose door that marked the entry point to the Ministry of Magic building like he had expected, but rather a red telephone box.

Harry turned back towards the Knight Bus and saw that Stan was watching him.

"What-" he began, but Stan interrupted him.

"Jus' get in an' dial "magic."" Stan said before the doors to the bus slammed shut and the bus raced off.

Confused, but not knowing what else to do, Harry stepped into the phone box and picked up the receiver. He held it to his ear and heard nothing but silence. There was no dial tone. However, given how this was supposedly the visitor's entrance to the Ministry of Magic, Harry suspected that the lack of a dial tone was to deter Muggles.

Harry checked the keypad and saw that, as expected, each number also had three letters beneath it. In order to spell magic, Harry pressed six, two, four, four and two in that order. Then a nasal female voice came through the receiver.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."

"Er…" said Harry, "Harry Potter, here to attend a disciplinary hearing…"

"Thank you," said the voice "Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes."

There was a click and a rattle, and Harry noticed something slide out of the chute where returned coins usually appeared. He picked it up and saw that it was a squared shaped, silver badge with the words _Harry Potter, Disciplinary Hearing_ engraved on it. Harry pinned it to the front of his school robes (the only robes he owned besides the dress robes that he had worn to the Yule Ball the previous Christmas, and they were too dressy for the hearing.)

The female voice spoke again "Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration. This can be done at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the atrium."

Then the floor of the telephone box gave a slight shudder and began sinking into the ground. It took about a minute, though it seemed a lot longer to Harry, for the telephone box to come to a stop. The door swung open as the female voice said "The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day."

Harry stepped out of the telephone box and found himself standing at one end of a very long and splendid hall, the walls of which were tiled with black marble. The floor consisted of a dark wood that was highly polished.

Along the walls stood a line of fireplaces, and every few moments one or more of these would roar into life with green flames and a wizard or witch would step out into the atrium. Floo powder, though efficient, was not Harry's preferred choice of magical travel.

Half way along the hall there was a large golden fountain that gave Harry pause for thought. It featured a wizard, a witch, a Centaur, a Goblin and a House Elf, the last three of which were looking up at the witch and wizard with adoration on their faces. Only the expression on the House Elf seemed right. The Centaurs of Hogwarts' Forbidden Forest would likely be greatly insulted by their depiction, and it was just as well Goblins didn't do business with wizards and witches outside of the bank, Gringotts. Harry was willing to bet all the money he had that if a Goblin ever caught sight of that statue, the Ministry would be dealing with a full-blown Goblin rebellion within the hour.

At the other end of the hall, Harry came to a desk with a plaque on top that read _Security._ Harry approached it and cleared his throat to get the attention of the guard, who had his nose buried in that morning's edition of The Daily Prophet.

The guard looked up and asked "What?" in a gruff voice.

"Er… I just came down the visitor's entrance." Harry replied "The phone said to contact the security desk."

The guard gave a resigned nod (resigned because he would have to do some actual work today) and set his newspaper down on the desk.

"Come round this side," said the guard. Harry did so and found himself subjected to the strange experience of having an object rather like a television aerial waved about in front of and around him. Obviously satisfied, the guard set the strange device down on the desk, and held out his hand to Harry, demanding "Wand?"

Harry handed over his wand and watched as the guard examined it. After confirming the make of wand and the length of time it had been used for, the guard gave Harry his wand back before picking up his copy of The Daily Prophet again.

Evidently that was the end of the security check. Harry, however, wasn't done with the man.

"Excuse me," he said, trying to sound as polite as possible "but how do I get to the… um…" he suddenly realised that he didn't have a clue where he was meant to be going. He tried asking another way "I'm here for a hearing for underage magic use. Do you know where I'm meant to go?"

The guard didn't look up, but did give a reply "Go over to the golden gates and get into a lift. Get out on the second level, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Ask someone there."

"Thanks." replied Harry, though he wasn't really sure exactly how helpful the man had been. On the plus side though, the man hadn't recognised him. The last thing Harry wanted at the moment was to be pointed out in the middle of this crowd. If they all stopped to gawk at him, or more specifically his scar, as wizards and witches not used to the sight of him usually did, he'd likely never get to the hearing.

Harry weaved his way through the jostling crowd and found his way into one of the lifts. Unlike buildings in the Muggle side of Britain, it turned out that the levels of the Ministry building didn't go from the ground floor up to the first floor and so on. Instead the floor numbers decreased with height. It turned out that the Atrium had been on level eight. With the floor he wanted being on level two, Harry had quite a wait but finally the lift doors opened and the female voice from the telephone box announced "Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including the Improper Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters and Wizengamot Administration Services."

To Harry the name "Improper Use of Magic Office" sounded promising. He was obviously on the right level and got out of the lift.

Harry found himself on a corridor lined with many doors. Two people had gotten out of the lift with Harry and they promptly marched off down the corridor, leaving him behind. He moved more slowly, reading the little sign on every door, explaining what the room beyond was for. Finally he came to one marked "_Improper Use of Magic Office_" and tried to turn the handle. The door swung open and Harry tentatively stepped into the room beyond. Inside there were two lines of three desks, one line along each side wall, and another, larger desk in between but at the back. Hanging on the wall behind this desk was a massive map of the Great Britain and Ireland. At a guess, Harry supposed that the map somehow indicated where magic was being used inappropriately, either before Muggles or by an underage witch or wizard. Technically Harry was guilty of both, though it was to save both his life and that of the stupid fat tub of lard that he technically was supposed to call his cousin.

Only four of the desks were occupied, including the big one at the back, and everyone in the room looked up at his sudden intrusion into their work day.

"Um… hi?" said Harry. Getting no greeting in response, Harry continued "I got a letter about attending a hearing-"

He broke off as the eyes of the witch sitting at the big desk lit up in recognition "Oh, Mr Potter! Yes, we were expecting you, though not for another hour or so. I'm Mafalda Hopkirk, I'm the head of this little office. Why don't you take a seat at Summerby's desk, she's in Majorca for the month, and I'll go and let Madam Bones know that you're here."

As Madam Hopkirk bustled out of the room, Harry made his way over to the nearest empty desk; the front left one, and saw a plaque with Summerby's name on it. Trying to ignore the stares he was getting from the other people in the office, Harry sat down in the chair behind the desk. The desk was untidy; a clutter of parchment, some of which contained hastily written notes, the rest of which contained what appeared to be runes of some kind. Harry supposed that the runes had something to do with how this office tracked the improper use of magic. There was also a picture of a boy of about Harry's age. Harry recognised him as Eric Summerby, a student from Hufflepuff house who was in the year above Harry. It was a strange thing, last year Eric Summerby had been one of the students who had treated Harry with contempt after he was entered in the tri-wizard tournament, and now Harry was sitting at his mother's desk at the Ministry awaiting a trial for underage magic.

I really was a small world after all.

A few moments after it had shut the door to the office opened again. Madam Hopkirk came in, and with her was a square-jawed woman with close-cropped grey hair and a monocle.

"Mr Potter" stated the monocle-wearing woman "you're here, good. I'm Amelia Bones, the Head of the DMLE. Follow me."

Confused, Harry none the less got to his feet and followed Amelia out of the room saying "I'm sorry, I thought that my hearing was taking place in here."

Madam Bones shook her head "No, those hearings usually take place with me in my office."

"Usually?" asked Harry.

"There has been a change of plans." replied Madam Bones as she led him towards the lifts at the end of the corridor "It seems that Minister Fudge doesn't trust me to come to a suitable outcome to this situation all by myself and has decided to hold your hearing before the whole Wizengamot."

"The what?" questioned Harry.

"The Wizengamot." replied Madam Bones as they got into a lift "A judicial and legislative branch of the Ministry. They are usually involved in the passing of decrees and the creation of new laws."

Trying to not sound rude, Harry asked "But why should my trial take place before all of them?"

"That is the point, Mr Potter," said Madam Bones "It shouldn't."

On floor four several Ministerial employees from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures got into the lift and Madam Bones went silent. Harry took the hint and kept quiet as well.

To Harry's surprise they didn't get out at the level of the Atrium and instead continued on downwards. When the lift came to a stop, the door rattled open and the female voice said "Department of Mysteries."

"Er…" began Harry as Madam Bones led the way out of the lift.

"Nothing to do with where we're going." she said to him as the lift doors clanged shut behind him.

Ahead Harry saw nothing except a single, plain black door set in the wall at the far end of the corridor. Harry half expected to be led through it, but with a "This way." Madam Bones guided him down a staircase off to one side.

At the bottom of the staircase they came to a corridor that consisted of rough stone walls and flaming torches in brackets. They passed several doors, each of which was heavy and made of wood, with iron bolts and keyholes.

"Here we are." said Madam Bones, stopping by a particularly dark and grimy door "Courtroom Ten." She turned to Harry "I have to head straight in as I'm a key member of the Wizengamot. You take a seat on that bench over there and someone will call for you when we are ready."

Harry gave a nod, turned and sat down on the bench. By the time he looked towards Madam Bones again, the door to the courtroom was just shutting behind her.

Harry remained sitting in complete silence for several very long minutes before hearing something. It sounded to him like the footsteps of someone trying to not make a sound and failing miserably.

He turned to look along the corridor, and the sound of footsteps stopped.

"Hello?" he asked aloud, but no reply came.

Harry got to his feet, his eyes straining to see in the torchlight.

"Hello?" he called again.

Almost as if in answer, the door to Courtroom Ten opened and a voice Harry recognised called out "Harry Potter?"

Harry turned and was surprised to see Percy Weasley, one of Ron's older brothers standing in the doorway, holding a roll of parchment and a quill. He was looking directly at Harry, but there was no sign of recognition on his face "Hurry up and get inside, Mr Potter. It won't do to keep the Wizengamot waiting."

And with that Percy turned and strolled back into the room, Harry following tentatively in his wake.

Harry recognised the dungeon-like that room he was now in. He had seen it before. He had _been_ in it before… well, kind of. He had seen it in a memory in a pensive. It was where the Ministry had carried out Death Eater trials at the end of the last war with Lord Voldemort. Were they treating him as if he were a Death Eater?

Benches lined all the walls, but the ones to either side of him were empty. In front of him, however, in the highest benches of all, there sat many shadowy figures. They had all been talking in a low murmur, but as the door behind Harry swung shut, an ominous silence fell.

A cold male voice rang out "You got our owl with the message that the time and place of the hearing had been changed?"

"No." replied Harry "I arrived early and met with Madam Bones. She told me." He had no idea what games the Minister was planning on playing, but Harry had no intention of going along with them

"Very well," said the male voice "Take your seat."

Harry looked to the middle of the room where a very uncomfortable looking wooden chair sat. There were black metal chains attached to the arms. It was the kind of chair used to keep the worst of the Death Eaters seated as they were sentenced to life in Azkaban, the wizarding prison.

Harry felt a surge of annoyance. Madam Bones had said that he should not be facing a trial by Wizengamot for his crime. The Minister's earlier question proved that the man had been hoping to make Harry look bad by changing the time and the place of the hearing without letting Harry know in enough time. And now they expected him to sit in that chair.

Harry stood resolute and asked "And if I refuse to accept being treated like a murdering Death Eater?"

The murmur of many voices talking at once began again, and became louder than it had been when he first entered the courtroom.

Someone began banging a gavel, causing Harry to wonder just when the British Ministry had taken to mimicking the Muggle courts of the United States, as Muggle judges in England did not make use of such things, and never had; despite what films and television shows claimed (he knew this thanks to a lecture from Hermione in his second year.) Nevertheless, the action served its purpose; the members of the Wizengamot quietened down and Madam Bones spoke "I appreciate your concern, Mr Potter, but you have my assurances that the spells on the chains of that particular chair have been removed."

Harry eyed the Wizengamot with a doubtful look for a moment longer before making his way over to the chair and sitting in it. The black chains seemed to twitch, almost as if threatening him, but true to Madam Bones' word, he wasn't bound to the chair as the Death Eaters had been.

Upon entering the room, Harry had felt slightly sick. Now he felt a little more self-confident. The thing he had to remember, to focus on was that Madam Bones was the head of Magical Law Enforcement and she was on _his_ side… at least in so far as being disapproving of the way his hearing was being carried out anyway.

"Very well," said Minister Fudge, a portly man who usually wore a lime green bowler hat (though today he appeared to have dispensed with it) "With the accused now present, let us begin. Are you ready?" he called down to where Percy Weasley was sitting, parchment and quill poised for writing.

"Yes, Minister." Percy called back.

In a ringing voice, Fudge began "Disciplinary hearing on the twelfth of August into offences committed under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and the Statute of Secrecy by one Harry James Potter, of Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. Interrogators; Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; and Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic."

Harry frowned in confusion and thought '_Senior _what _to the Minister?"_ He knew that some businesses liked to create job titles out of thin air or pad them out to make the position sound more important than it actually was but bloody hell, that one just about took the biscuit! Come to that why was a secretary going to decide his fate? Shouldn't she be doing Percy's job while someone like Mafalda Hopkirk sat in the seat she was currently occupying? Harry noticed that she hadn't come down here with him and Madam Bones, and it was _her_ office he was in trouble with!

Oblivious to Harry's internal rant, Minister Fudge continued on "Court Scribe Percival Ignatius Weasley…"

On and on the list of names went, with Harry fairly certain that there had been a "_half-sister to the lady who cleans the canteen on a Thursday afternoon_" in there somewhere, but nowhere was there a mention of someone who might be on Harry's side. He was fairly certain he was entitled to a solicitor or something like that to speak in his defence here. Come to think of it, where was Dumbledore? Harry was certain that in amongst that man's many titles there was a _'Chief _Something_ to the Wizengamot.'_ So where was he now, because from the sounds of it every member of the Wizengamot was present, along with every member of their respective families.

And the neighbour's dog!

Finally the long and boring list of names and pointless titles was ended and Fudge got on with the actual proceedings "So, we all know the charges," Harry wasn't entirely sure anymore but wasn't about to interrupt again; he was bored enough already. Fudge continued to tell them all anyway "The accused did knowingly, deliberately and in full awareness of the illegality of his actions, having received a previous warning from the Ministry of Magic, produce a Patronus Charm in a Muggle-inhabited area, in the presence of a Muggle, on the second of August at twenty-three minutes past nine in the evening, which constitutes an offence under Paragraph C of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, and also under Section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy, 1692."

Fudge looked up from the sheet of parchment before him, from which he had read the charges, and turned his gaze upon Harry.

"You are Harry James Potter of Number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey?"

"Yes." Harry said.

"You received an official warning from the Ministry for using illegal magic three years ago, did you not?"

"Yes, but-"

"And yet you conjured a Patronus on the night of the second of August?"

"Yes," replied Harry "but-"

"Knowing that you are not permitted to use magic outside of school while you are under the age of seventeen?"

"Yes, but-"

"Knowing that you were in an area filled with Muggles?"

"Yes, but-"

"Fully aware that you were in close proximity to a Muggle at the time?"

"_Yes,_" said Harry angrily "but I only used it because we were-"

It was Madam Bones who cut across him this time "You produced a fully-fledged Patronus?"

"Yes," said Harry "because-"

"A corporeal Patronus?"

"A – what?" asked Harry.

"Your patronus had a clearly defined form? Was it more than mere vapour?"

"Yes, it's a stag. Always a stag." replied Harry who, quite frankly, was getting fed up with this questioning. They weren't letting him answer the key question of why he cast the Patronus in the first place.

"Always?" asked Madam Bones "You've produced a Patronus before now?"

"Yes," replied Harry "I've had to do it before."

"Had to?"

"Yes," said Harry "I thought that the Ministry was aware of that."

"And why would we be?" asked Madam Bones.

"Well in my third year, the Ministry of Magic ordered that a group of Dementors be stationed around the school for the safety of the students. After one attacked me on the Hogwarts Express and a whole lot of them attacked my in the middle of a Quidditch match, causing me to fall from a height of over a hundred feet, the Defence Professor volunteered his time to teach me."

Harry looked directly at the Minister, who looked slightly uncomfortable at his words. Harry chose to drive his point home. "Surely you remember, Minister. The Dementors attacking me at the Quidditch match was why the Headmaster refused them any further access to the grounds, no matter how much you insisted."

Fudge was now turning a shade of purple that would have done Harry's Uncle Vernon proud "Be that as it may, it does not exempt you from the fact that you performed the spell in the presence of a Muggle."

The Wizengamot began murmuring again. On seeing Percy give a sanctimonious little nod, Harry was driven to speak.

"I did it because we were being attacked by Dementors." he said loudly, before anyone else could interrupt him."

Harry had expected the response to that statement to be more muttering. What he got was silence.

Finally the quiet was broken by laughter coming from Fudge "Ah, yes," he said "Yes, I was wondering when we'd be hearing some cock-and-bull story like this one."

"Cornelius," said Madam Bones, and Harry was pleased to note that there was a tone on warning in her voice.

She turned to Harry and asked "What do you mean by that last statement?"

"It's simple," replied Harry "my cousin and I were walking along an alleyway that would lead us back home when we were attacked by two Dementors."

"Poppycock!" Fudge burst out "The Ministry has no records for there being two Dementors in Little Whinging on that evening or any other. Why would they be?"

"I don't know," replied Harry "Perhaps they were two wild Dementors."

"There are no wild Dementors in the British Isles." replied Fudge.

"Then it follows that the Ministry's records are wrong." said Harry.

"Or that you are a liar." commented the woman sitting next to Fudge. Harry had quite forgotten her name, along with her self-important job title, but noticed for the first time that she was dressed all in pink, and looked rather like a toad.

"I am not a liar," replied Harry "Is it possible that two of your Dementors went rogue?"

"The Ministry does not lose control of its Dementors." replied Fudge.

Harry leaned back in his chair and tilted his head back to look up at the ceiling, he could think of at least two incidents where the Ministry _had_ lost control of its Dementors. Actually he could think of a third, but bringing that one up would only cause trouble for a lot of people. His problem now was how to convince the Wizengamot that he was telling the truth.

And then it came to him. Hadn't Professor Dumbledore warned Fudge that this very thing might happen during that unpleasant day in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts, back near the end of June?

Was the Minister still so prepared to ignore the truth as he was back then? All current evidence pointed to the answer to that question being a resolute "_yes_" but Harry knew that he had to try.

Turning his attention back on Fudge, Harry said "There is one other, of course, who could have ordered those Dementors to attack me in Little Whinging."

Fudge caught on to exactly what Harry was getting at and replied "He's_ not_ back."

Harry scowled "Still ignoring everything that the Headmaster told you back in June, Minister? Are you still so determined to ignore the fact that your perfect little world is in danger once again?"

Silence greeted this. Harry could not help but notice that Fudge, the toad-lady and several other members of the Wizengamot looked triumphant now.

Not the reaction he was expecting.

Madam Bones leaned forward slightly in her seat and spoke "Mr Potter, Albus Dumbledore withdrew his statements regarding the alleged return of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named a month ago."

Harry stared back up at her feeling stunned. _"Withdrew his statements?"_ Did that mean Dumbledore had reason to believe that he, Harry, was not telling the truth? But that was preposterous. Dumbledore had questioned the Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr. himself, under the influence of truth serum. It just did not make any sense.

"_Or does it?_" asked a voice from somewhere in the back of Harry's mind. Harry blinked at the question, and thought on it. Dumbledore had changed his mind and withdrawn all his comments regarding the return of Lord Voldemort. Why? The answer to that hit Harry like a ton of bricks. Obviously Dumbledore stood to gain somehow if he kept quiet on the subject. Perhaps Fudge had bullied the rest of the Wizengamot into threatening to force Dumbledore out of his Chief Warlock post is he didn't stop. Apparently Dumbledore had done so, but why hadn't he informed Harry?

"_So you can take the fall._" replied the voice in the back of his mind.

"_Why?" _Harry wondered.

"_Because by detaching himself from you, he will look better in the eyes of the Ministry._" the voice said.

And suddenly it all made sense: the lack of contact with people he knew, the lack of news, no one showing up to help him today; it was probably all done upon Dumbledore's orders to keep himself looking good to those in power. And those who were watching him at Privet Drive were doing so, not for_ his_ safety, but to make sure he didn't do anything that would make Dumbledore look bad. They were probably checking to make sure he didn't send a letter to the Daily Prophet or something; they sure as hell hadn't been of any use to him when he was attacked!

Harry looked up at the hundred or so faces before him and saw that every single one was watching him intently. And Harry came to the sudden realisation that if he wanted to keep his wand in one piece, he would need a change in tactics.

One method immediately sprang to mind, but the question was whether or not he could do it.

"_A very Slytherin plan._" the voice noted.

Harry would normally have shied away from anything that might associate him with the Slytherin House of Hogwarts, but acting like a Gryffindor had gotten him nowhere. It was time to let his Slytherin side out to play.

Slowly he stood from his seat and stepped forward before bowing low to the Wizengamot and saying "My sincere apologies. It appears that the plans have been changed and that Dumbledore did not see fit to inform me of the situation."

The murmur of the Wizengamot grew loud very fast following that statement, and Harry was pleased to see that Fudge looked positively overjoyed at his "divulgence."

* * *

**A/N: So how's that for a first chapter? Sorry to end on a cliff hanger, but it felt like an appropriate stopping place. On a side note, at over 6,600 words, I believe that this is the longest first chapter I have ever written, as well as being the one of the longest chapters overall.**

**As I mentioned at the top, although the main characters are given as Harry and Susan, I am undecided as to whether or not that will be the pairing. I am leaning in favour of it though; I usually go Harry/Hermione, so it's time for a change, and Harry/Susan is my second favourite pairing... no, Harry/Luna is second, this one is third. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy what comes, regardless**


	2. Meeting with the Minister

**Holy crap! I cannot believe the response the first chapter of this story got! I don't think I've ever had so many "review", "alert" and "favourite" messages come in all at once. My inbox didn't know what hit it! Seriously, 98 reviews, 183 favourites and 368 follows is not something I ever expected to see after just one chapter. This story needs to be really, really good now in order to be deserving of its initial response. **_**Gulp!**_

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 2: Meeting with the Minister

Harry was sitting in a large and ornate office. A desk made of exquisitely carved and refined mahogany, far larger than anyone required a desk to be, sat before him. On the opposite side of the desk there sat a tall, Queen Anne wingback chair of black leather. In that chair sat Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, who was surveying Harry with an inquisitive look that really did not seem to belong on his face. Most people would doubt that the Minister could actually make his face form such a look. Pompous and/or constipated, yes, or maybe befuddled, but never inquisitive. Nevertheless, it was there. And it made Harry quite uncomfortable, though he was doing his level best to conceal it.

Harry himself was seated in a chair not too dissimilar to the Minister's, though this one was admittedly a fair bit smaller.

They were currently waiting on Madam Bones. Following Harry's "_confession_" in the courtroom, the Minister had adjourned the day's proceedings so that, in his words "New evidence could be assessed and put in order." Harry guessed that meant that Fudge wanted to hear what Harry had to say for himself without the rest of the Wizengamot there, thus enabling him to discover what kind of spin he would have to put on the situation in order to get the best results. After all, it wouldn't do for Harry to mention anymore "Dementors at the Quidditch game" type things to the whole Wizengamot. Fudge had obviously seen a chance to get Harry on his side of things as well as do damage to Dumbledore's reputation, but that would only work so long as he and Harry got their stories straight.

Madam Bones had insisted on being in the meeting and, given that the case had already been brought before the Wizengamot, Fudge could not deny the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement access to proceedings.

Harry knew that this meant that the Minister would have to tread carefully, and it was likely that he would as well. Madam Bones would be a major asset as an ally. She would also make a devastating enemy.

Strangely Madam Bones had not immediately come up to the office when Harry and the Minister had. Instead they had gotten outside the courtroom and she had suddenly announced that she had a quick bit of business to attend to. What that business could be Harry could not guess, surely she had set aside a good portion of her morning in order to accommodate his trial. Nevertheless, they had gone on without her.

As they were waiting Harry ran many thoughts and possibilities through his mind. What should he reveal? What should he not? What should he put a spin on? Where should he lie? What did he want to achieve here?

The door to the office and Madam Bones walked in. Once she had taken a seat in a chair beside Harry, the Minister began.

"So, Mr Potter, you said down in the courtroom that plans had been changed. What exactly did you mean by that?"

"Oh, it's quite simple," replied Harry "Dumbledore desires to take control of the Ministry for himself."

Fudge sat up straighter in his seat "And why would he want to do that?"

Harry shook his head "I am not entirely sure why. I'm just one of the pawns he hoped to use in order to invoke the change, and therefore not entitled to know the greater details of the scheme. It is possible, however, that he has come to mistrust your judgement in matters."

"My judgement?" asked Fudge.

"Oh yes," replied Harry "For example there was my third year, where you insisted that the Dementors be placed around Hogwarts."

"That was for your safety," said Fudge "Sirius Black-"

Harry cut him off "The Dementors got a lot closer to killing me than Black has, and on three separate occasions as well. When, at the end of the year, Black had me confounded," Harry didn't like saying that as it wasn't truthful to Sirius, but he had to play to the Ministry's view of those events "and yet a Dementor tried to administer the Kiss to me, intending to get rid of me before moving on to Black. The Dementors lack any and all perceptions with regards to the differences between people and by putting them at Hogwarts you nearly got killed the very person you wanted to protect the most. I hasten to add that there was another student there at the time, a friend of mine. That would have just made things worse. It is only through the Defence Professor for that year teaching me the patronus charm that I was able to keep the Dementors at bay long enough for help to arrive. Had that not been the case, I would not be here to have this conversation, and I would guess that you would be out of office, either in Azkaban for the endangerment of students, or lynched by the Wizarding public for your part in the death of The Boy-Who-Lived. It is likely and a fair few other Ministry officials would have found themselves in the same situation." At that Harry nodded to Madam Bones.

Fudge shifted in his seat uncomfortably "Yes, well… When you put it like that…"

"There is also the case of the arrest of Rubeus Hagrid during my second year," said Harry "I'm not entirely sure how accurate the Hogwarts rumour mill is, but I believe that the phrase "_The Ministry has got to be seen to be doing something_" was thrown about."

The Minister paled slightly, and Harry had to fight to hold back a smile. That quotation wasn't a rumour. Harry had been there, under his invisibility cloak the night that Hagrid was arrested and heard the words coming straight from the mouth of the Minister himself. But by saying it was a school rumour, Harry had covered himself at the same time as making his point to the Minister.

Harry continued "And then there was that shocking embarrassment at the Quidditch World Cup, with all those Death Eaters marching about, tormenting Muggles and setting fire to peoples' tents… I seem to remember an announcement of a reduction in funding for the DMLE sometime early during my second year at Hogwarts, and the following summer Sirius Black escapes from Azkaban Prison and then the next year we have to suffer that embarrassment, especially with the Ministers from many other countries present, as well as the media…"

"Yes, yes…" said Fudge with an air of someone who really did not want to think about such embarrassments.

"All in all, putting those things together, it's not hard to come up with a possible reason for Dumbledore's actions," Harry continued "But as I said, I'm just a pawn in the middle of Dumbledore's grand schemes."

Deciding to move the discussion along, Madam Bones asked "So when did Dumbledore approach you with his plan to seize control of the Ministry?"

Harry considered his words carefully before answering "Well, the first that I knew for definite was shortly before the third task of the Tri Wizard Tournament. I think it was not long after Mr Crouch turned up at Hogwarts, raving mad, before disappearing again. Dumbledore didn't come right out and confess the entire plan, he just said something along the lines of "The Minister is not prepared to listen to reason." I don't remember it all word-for-word, but the gist was that you were no longer listening to every word coming out of his mouth and it was time for you to go."

Fudge noticeably bristled "Really? Just who does that blustering old coot think he is?"

"One thing I have noticed about Dumbledore," said Harry "is that he doesn't like people who don't dance to his tune."

"And what made you go along with the plan, Mr Potter?" asked Madam Bones.

"Well to put it simply," replied Harry "I am one of the many who has been trained to dance to Dumbledore's tune."

Madam Bones frowned and demanded "Explain?"

Harry steeled himself. It was now time for him to reveal some truths about himself that he was not usually comfortable talking about with anyone.

"As you learned from my trial earlier, if you didn't already know, I live with Muggle relatives from my mother's side of the family. Simply put, they don't like magic. In fact, they hate it. And they have no love for me. Although they took me in, begrudgingly I might add, they were very neglectful towards me, and blamed me for everything that went wrong in their lives. As such, when I showed up for Hogwarts, I was both meek and eager to please, two traits that I am very certain Dumbledore exploited to his advantage."

"How did he take advantage?" asked Madam Bones.

"The first person from the Magical World I can ever remember meeting was Hagrid. And you know how loyal he is to Dumbledore. And my first friend at Hogwarts was Ronald Weasley, and you know how loyal the Weasleys are to Dumbledore too. From say one it was "Great man, Dumbledore," and "He's bloody brilliant." Combined with his Grandfather-like persona, I was quickly sucked into the crowd of people who believe that the Hogwarts Headmaster can do no wrong."

"And add to that your desire to keep away from your relatives, you end up becoming the perfect pawn." finished Madam Bones.

"Exactly." said Harry "I am in the perfect position to be made to see things from Dumbledore's point or view, and that makes be especially vulnerable to his manipulations."

"And how did Dumbledore convince you to go through with his plan to destabilise the Ministry?" asked Fudge.

"He told me that if I didn't go through with it, he would snap my wand, bind my magic and send me back to my relatives' house permanently." replied Harry, the lie forming easily.

Fudge frowned as remarked "I know you said that you don't like them, but how can it be so bad that you would go to such lengths to stay away from them?"

Harry gave a sigh. It was time to reveal something that he had told to no one before. He stood from his seat and undid his robe. Then he lifted up his shirt and turned around. He heard a gasp from Amelia and it sounded like Fudge had knocked something off of his desk.

On his back were several scars.

"See the longest one?" asked Harry "The one going across the small of my back from, starting slightly higher on the right?"

"It looks like you were it with a whip." observed Madam Bones.

"My Uncle did that. At school I got told off for throwing bubble gum into a girls' hair. The problem was that it wasn't me, it was my cousin Dudley. When the teacher asked who did it, my cousin and nine others all pointed the finger of blame at me. I protested but she told me off, and my accidental magic turned her hair blue. When I got home, Dudley told his parents. Uncle Vernon then took his belt and beat me with it."

"Did they often do things like that?" asked Madam Bones.

Harry shook his head "Only when the magic I did was highly obvious. Normally they just settled for locking me in the cupboard under the stairs, which is where my bedroom was. If the magic was deemed worse I would get punished. See the scar below the left shoulder blade? That one was because I was being chased by bullied and accidentally apparated onto the roof of the school."

Harry lowered his shirt and picked up his robe to put it back on "I trust you now realise why I don't want to go back to my relatives."

Fudge nodded "Yes, of course. Anyone would want to avoid that. But what made you think that Dumbledore could take your wand and force you to remain there?"

Harry tilted his head to the side, as if considering his response before giving it "Surely you must have noticed, Minister, that the Headmaster gets away with a lot of things that the average witch or wizard would not. And I have good reason to believe that it was Dumbledore who put me with the Dursleys in the first place. When I first met Hagrid, he admitted to pulling me from the ruins of my parents' home and taking me to the Dursleys. It's not that hard to believe that Dumbledore ordered him to do it."

Fudge nodded "Yes, yes that is true. Dumbledore does get away with a lot. And he did tell the Wizengamot at the time that you have been put in the care of family from your mother's side. I remember that it didn't sit too well with some people. Some wanted you in a wizarding family, some thought that they had a claim in being able to raise you, some thought it was wrong to hide you… of course some of that last group turned out to be Death Eater sympathisers."

Madam Bones turned the talk back to the subject at hand "So how much of the events of the night of the Third Task were Dumbledore's manipulations in progress?"

"Honestly?" asked Harry "I have no idea. I think Dumbledore knew the truth about Barty Crouch Jr. impersonation Alastor Moody very early on. Think about it; Dumbledore and Moody are supposed to be old friends, so how could Dumbledore not notice an impostor easily? I believe that there being another convicted Death Eater on the loose was meant to help in destabilising you, Minister. The story of Voldemort's return, however, was entirely fabricated. It was meant to spread a mass panic that would help his cause."

"And who killed Cedric Diggory?" asked Madam Bones.

Harry gave a shrug "Probably something in the maze. I found him near the Tri Wizard Cup and thought that he could be useful."

"That's a very unusual thought to have in that situation, Mr Potter." said Madam Bones "You found someone you knew to be dead, and your first thought was to make use of him in Dumbledore's plan."

"I know," said Harry "I have repeatedly wondered if there was a strong compulsion spell or something similar to make me act that way."

Heaving a sigh, Fudge commented "I honestly wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to do such a thing."

Madam Bones nodded in agreement "Yes, given all that you have said, I can see Dumbledore taking measures to ensure that you went through with the plan. Cedric may well have been killed elsewhere in the maze and moved there in order for you to make a more compelling argument. Though it remains to be seen if he was murdered for that purpose or was killed by something in the maze."

Fudge nodded "Such a shame his father decided not to go through with an autopsy. This whole matter could be over with by now."

"Well, Mr Diggory did come up to the school," said Harry "In fact he was there the day of the Third Task. Who knows what spell-work could have been done on him."

"Yes," said Fudge "We'd better have him checked. Now then, why do you think Dumbledore changed his plan?"

"Simple," said Harry "He found that he did not have as much support as he would have liked. This caused the plan to falter, and my guess is that he was set to lose much more than he had to gain…"

"Yes, he was set to lose his position on the Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards," replied Fudge "And we were going to begin a full investigation of the running of Hogwarts."

"Well there you are then," said Harry "He found the risk too much and changed his mind, all the while allowing me to take the fall. My guess would be that he expected you to kick me out of the Wizarding World without me ever finding out that he abandoned both the plan and me. Then should he ever succeed in taking over the Ministry, he could come and bring me back to the Wizarding World, explaining how sorry he was that it had happened and that his hands had been tied by the previous Minister. And I, completely oblivious to his betrayal, would believe every word of it. Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom, he gets out of trouble and still has me on side should he ever gain power at a later date."

"But if he wanted you expelled," said Fudge "then why go to the effort to get you a hearing when we had already decided to expel you in the first place?"

"Simple," said Harry "I got a note from Arthur Weasley telling me that "Dumbledore was sorting things out." And his doing so means that in the end Dumbledore appears even better in my eyes; he did what he could to get the Ministry to see reason, had some success, but couldn't change how the vote went."

Madam Bones had a wry smile on her face as she commented "So he appeared to be doing something."

"Exactly." replied Harry.

Fudge nodded thoughtfully "Very well, Mr Potter. I believe you are telling the truth. Amelia have Dumbledore arrested as soon as possible. We'll have his titles away from him and get him in Azkaban if we can manage it."

Harry held up a hand "Minister, might I suggest something?"

"Yes?"

"Don't be so quick to boot Dumbledore out."

"Why?"

"Because so long as he is either at Hogwarts as Headmaster or working at the Ministry, he is out in the open. He is busy. Take him away from those positions, and suddenly he has a lot of free time on his hands. Don't forget he is still the great Albus Dumbledore, and an Azkaban conviction might be very hard to obtain, especially as all the evidence you have is what little I have been able to give to you."

"And if he is free from all responsibilities he has more time to plan." said Fudge.

Harry nodded "It is far better to keep an enemy where you can see him."

"And meanwhile we can build an airtight case against him." said Madam Bones.

"Correct," replied Harry "Although it might be a good idea to go through with an investigation of how Hogwarts is run. I imagine that you will get a good deal of information on him that way."

Fudge nodded "Yes, yes I think that would be a good idea. Well, if that is all, Mr Potter, I believe that you are free to go."

"I am?" asked Harry, a little surprised.

"Of course." replied Fudge "I think we can let the matter of your trial go, under the circumstances. After all, your cousin already new about magic, and there were no other Muggle witnesses reported. Just don't do it again."

Harry nodded, thanked the Minister and went to stand up.

As he did, Madam Bones said "Hold on."

Harry and the Minister both turned to look at her.

She continued "As we have you here, Mr Potter, I think that we ought to discuss your living arrangements. For the rest of the summer holidays, at least."

Fudge agreed to that "Yes, we can't in good conscience have you going back to such an environment now that we know about it."

"Honestly, it's fine." replied Harry.

"Nonsense," said Fudge "I'm sure we can find you somewhere much better to stay… Amelia, didn't you say that your Susan was in Harry's year?"

"Indeed she is," replied Madam Bones "Do you know her Harry? Susan Bones?"

"I know her," replied Harry "but not too well, I'm afraid."

"Well," said Fudge "He's a perfect opportunity to change that. Assuming, of course, that you would be happy to take Harry in for the next three weeks, Amelia?"

Madam Bones smiled and said "Shouldn't be a problem."

"Very good," said Fudge "Amelia, why don't you take the rest of the day off to help Harry settle in. I'm sure that Rufus can handle things for one afternoon."

* * *

Half an hour later, after Amelia had arranged things with her department at the Ministry, Harry found himself shooting out of the fireplace in the kitchen of the Bones family manor. He crashed straight into a table and then lay in a crumpled heap in the floor.

Somewhere nearby he heard a female voice yelp with surprise. A moment later that same voice exclaimed "Merlin! Are you alright?"

Harry blinked several times, reached up to put his glasses back on and suddenly found himself looking at a pair of worried looking blue eyes.

Behind him the fireplace roared and Madam Bones stepped out of the floo.

She chucked at the sight of Harry on the floor and remarked "I have heard rumours of your less than graceful exiting of the floo network, Mr Potter, but I never expected it to be this bad."

Getting up off of the floor, Harry remarked "Give me a broom any day."

Madam Bones looked to the owner of the blue eyes and asked "Susan, could you leave us alone for a little while? I have some things to ask Mr Potter here."

Susan's eyes moved from her aunt, to Harry and back to her aunt before she gave a nod and left the room.

Once she was gone, Madam Bones indicated that Harry should take a seat at the table. Once they were both seated, she turned to him and asked "Right then, Mr Potter, how much of what you told the Minister earlier was the truth and how much was fabricated?"

Harry gaped at her "What?"

"You heard me." she replied "You might be able to lie well enough to deceive the Minister, but I've been dealing with criminals since before you were born. I went along with you as you spun your little story, but now I want the truth."

Seeing a look mistrust in his eyes, she said "You're not in trouble, Mr Potter. Clearly you have been screwed over by several people in your life, most recently by both the Minister and the Chief Warlock. You lied to get yourself out of a situation that you should never have been in, and now I want the truth."

Harry nodded and replied "As far as I know, Dumbledore had no plot to bring down the Ministry. Voldemort did return at the end of June, and his servant killed Cedric."

Madam Bones nodded and said "You realise that things are going to get more complicated from here on out, right?"

Harry gave a nod, but replied "Everything about my life is complicated, Madam Bones."

A tray containing a teapot, two cups and saucers, two teaspoons, a small jug of milk, a bowl of sugar cubes and a plate of scones appeared on the table between the two of them.

"Tell me everything." said Madam Bones, as she poured them a cup of tea each.

And Harry did. Four years of life at Hogwarts came pouring out of him, almost like the breaking of a damn, there was no stopping it. Be it the rampaging Troll, three headed dog on guard duty, warnings from a House Elf, voices in the corridors, Basilisks attacking, a bewitched diary that wrote back, Dementors on the prowl, or his name coming out of the Tri-Wizard cup, Harry explained the lot. Mad, possessed, oppressed, fraudulent and impersonated teachers were talked about in great detail, and the grand finale of each school year was reviewed in microscopic detail. The Philosopher's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, the truth about Sirius Black, the torment of Voldemort's rebirth, the Minister's refusal to listen and the recent block on communication, no stone was left unturned.

Eventually Madam Bones nodded, got to her feet and commented "Well, I had better see about improving my Department's budget then, hadn't I?"

Harry looked up at her in bewilderment "You believe me?"

"I do." said replied "I cannot explain why just yet, but I do."

"What should I do about it all, though?" asked Harry.

"We can discuss that at a later time, Harry." said Madam Bones "For now it is past midnight. Come on, I'll show you up to the room where you'll be staying."

* * *

After Harry had gone to bed, Amelia Bones sat in her study, thinking hard. Harry had only done what was needed to free himself of some of the manipulations of both Dumbledore and the Ministry, and she could not fault him for that. The problem now was where to go from this point. With Fudge not facing the fact that Voldemort had returned, she was put into a bid of a bind.

With any luck Fudge and Dumbledore would get so involved in fighting each other that Dumbledore would leave Harry alone, and Amelia could make some changes without Fudge knowing it.

One problem that would have to be dealt with soon was the young Auror she discovered lurking outside the courtroom under an invisibility cloak. Right now, Nymphadora Tonks was detained in a cell that only the highest ranking Aurors had access to and the matter had been kept quiet. She didn't have the evidence for it yet, but Amelia suspected that she had another of Dumbledore's "pawns" on her hands.

* * *

Miles away, in a castle in Scotland, Albus Dumbledore was getting a little concerned. Nymphadora Tonks was supposed to have let him know how young Harry's trial had gone, and she should have done so by now.

He regretted leaving Harry to take the blame, but it was all for the Greater Good in the end.

At least he had avoided having the Ministry investigating the running of the school. Snape, Trelawney, Hagrid and Binns would not stand up to too much scrutiny if they were investigated by competent people. And some of his decisions in recent years would be viewed as very dark to those not of the correct mind set.

Deciding to put his concerns about Tonks out of his mind, he turned back to the papers in front of him. Only three people had applied for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post this time around, and none of them were all that qualified to teach. Not that that had stopped him in the past.

Little did he know that down in London, the Minister for Magic and his highest ranking boot licker had just spent the entire afternoon working on a way to fill that post for him, and inflict a world of pain upon the school.

* * *

**A/N: So how was that? Harry talked his way out of trouble now looks rosy in the eyes of the Minister and Madam Bones knows the truth and it ready to prepare to face it. However it is in the next chapter that things will really get going (Harry looking good to the Minister was very important for what is to come, regardless of how many lies Harry had to tell in order to get there.)**


	3. Healer Abbott

**Based on the number of reviews, favourites and alerts compared to the number of chapters, this appears to be my most well-liked story, and it hasn't even got going properly yet!**

**Sorry for the delay, I thought that I had this chapter planned out, but as several reviewers pointed out, I needed to include Harry being seen by a healer "to see all that Pomfrey either did not or was made to ignore" and have his scar examined more closely. I don't feel it moves the plot along too much, but it is pretty much a "must have" for any story of this type.**

**So here we go…**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 3: Healer Abbott

Harry felt like his head had barely hit the pillow when he awoke to find bright sunlight streaming through the open curtains that hung in front of the large window of the bedroom that he had been shown to the night before.

"Ah, the young sir is up then," said a voice.

Harry rolled over onto his side and saw a House Elf standing next to his bed. Judging by the voice and slighter build, Harry guessed that this House Elf was female, though it wasn't exactly easy to tell with the little beings.

"Mistress Amelia requests that you join her downstairs in the kitchen. She wishes to speak with you," said the Elf.

"Is it alright if I get cleaned up a bit first?" asked Harry.

"Certainly, sir," replied the Elf "I shall inform the Mistress, but please don't be keeping her waiting too long, sir."

And with that the Elf vanished with a pop.

Harry threw back the covers of the bed and swung his legs out onto the wooden floor. He sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, rubbing his eyes wearily, before getting to his feet and making his way over to the en suite bathroom.

Inside the fixtures were all made of an exquisite white marble. Unfortunately there was no shower. Harry had noted this at the Weasley family home, The Burrow, as well. It was the same at Hogwarts. It seemed that the magical community had failed to advance as far as the shower yet. Seeing as he did not have the time for a bath, Harry settled for filling the large wash basin with hot water. After a quick scrub down he dried himself off, got dressed, made a doomed-to-failure attempt to do something with his hair to make it look tidy, and then headed out of his room.

On the staircase leading down to the ground floor, he noticed something that made him pause. The wall beside the staircase was painted in a colour that some might say was called burgundy, whereas others would call it maroon. On the wall there hung dozens, perhaps even hundreds of portrait frames that Harry simply had not taken notice of on his way upstairs the previous evening. He supposed that his tiredness had something to do with it. Also given how just about every corridor and staircase in Hogwarts was decorated with portraits, he had just come to not pay too much attention to the things over time.

As he was walking down the staircase, Harry stopped every so often to take in one portrait or another. It turned out that they all appeared to be members of the Bones family, both born into the line and married into it. Each painting had a small golden plaque, into which were engraved the name, date of birth and date of death of each family member. There was a one of a grim faced man with a short white beard and moustache named Henry Bones, dated to have lived between 949 and 1034. It seemed that the Bones family had a long history, dating to before the time William the Conqueror had led the Norman Conquest against Anglo-Saxon England. In fact, this guy was born before Hogwarts School was even founded *.

Harry moved along the line and saw a couple more names. He was particularly surprised by '_Elizabeth Bones (née Potter) 973 – 1067._' From that he guessed that his own family had a long history as well. It would have been nice to have known that sooner.

Further along the lines he noticed that the Black family had also married into the Bones family, as had the Abbotts, the Longbottoms, the McKinnons and the Meadowes. All very old families, it seemed, and all of whom, if Harry had remembered correctly, had each suffered great losses at the hands of Lord Voldemort and his followers. So much for the supposed value of wizarding blood.

Remembering that Madam Bones was waiting for him, Harry tore his eyes away from the portraits and continued on downstairs. He would definitely be studying those portraits some more during his time here.

In the kitchen Harry found Madam Bones sitting at the table, taking tea with another woman. Although he had never met this woman in his life, as far as he could remember anyway, something about the shape of her face and her blond hair was immediately recognisable to him. Given that he was in the Bones family manor house, and given that Susan Bones was a close friend of Hannah Abbott, and given how much this woman resembled Hannah, Harry immediately assumed that this woman was Hannah's mother.

He was right too.

"Ah, Harry," said Madam Bones "I'd like to introduce you to Sarah Abbott. She's a healer with the Auror department."

Harry took the healer's hand and bowed respectfully "A pleasure to meet you, Healer Abbott."

The woman laughed "Actually we have met before, Master Potter, though you will probably not remember it."

Harry raised a questioning eyebrow "You knew my parents?"

"Yes, I was a friend of your mother's at school. When she went into labour with you, the whole thing had to be kept as quiet as possible, and your mother insisted that I be there, even though I was only just a couple of weeks into my second year of training and had yet to learn anything of delivering babies."

As if sensing the question that Harry wanted to ask this woman, Madam Bones said "We were just discussing Sarah's absence from your life while you were growing up. It seems that Albus Dumbledore's manipulations run far deeper than we have previously had reason to suspect."

"Is that so?" Harry questioned, tilting his head to the side with an expression of curiosity.

"Yes," replied Healer Abbott "following your placement with your mother's wretched sister, myself and several others tried repeatedly to gain custody of you. Given how most of the Wizengamot was tied up in Death Eater trials, we continuously failed to get our case heard properly. In the end when we finally did get a proper case, Dumbledore pulled some strings to get his way and got us banned from seeing you. Well, except in an official capacity, which is why I am here today."

Harry blinked and asked "Excuse me?"

Madam Bones smiled at him and said "Harry, Healer Abbott has been unable to contact you due to a Wizengamot ruling. All methods of contacting you are closed. Any letter sent by you by owl delivery would not make it as the owl would simply become disoriented, and a letter send through the muggle postal system would simply get lost in the system and never make it to you. Trying to speak to you on one of those telephone things the muggles use would only result in the both of you hearing nothing but a continuous and high-pitched whistling sound. In fact were she to be standing right next to you on Platform 9 ¾, she would completely fail to recognise your presence. The only way she could possibly contact you would be in her official capacity as healer, and only then if it was deemed required."

Healer Abbott nodded and continued "Through your years at Hogwarts I have tried on several occasions to be allowed to give you a medical examination, purely to get to meet you and get to know you, but I have been constantly rebuffed by Dumbledore, who insists that Madam Pomfrey is more than capable of tending to any medical need you may have."

"But now," continued Madam Bones "with there being suspicion with regards to Dumbledore's behaviour and actions towards you, there is now reason to doubt Madam Pomfrey's care for you. That means that I can now request that Healer Abbott act in her official capacity and give you a proper medical examination."

Harry gave a thoughtful nod of his head "Circumventing the system?"

"Partly," replied the healer "But mostly out of genuine concern. Already I can see that you are far too skinny for my liking."

"So you want me to undergo a full medical examination?" Harry asked.

"Given the circumstances I would very much recommend it," replied Madam Bones "Given all that you informed me of yesterday, I believe to be wise to check yourself for any problems."

Harry gave another nod and said "Alright then. I don't suppose it could hurt to get myself checked out."

"Very well then," said Madam Bones "I must get to the Ministry. Harry, I will leave you in the capable hands of one of the best healers the Auror department has at its disposal."

Harry and Healer Abbott watched as Madam Bones left through the floo, and then turned to each other.

"Perhaps your room would be the best place to do this," suggested the Healer "I could examine you here on the kitchen table, but Susan and my daughter are both out in the garden and could walk in at any moment."

Harry gave a shrug and replied "Whatever you think is best, Healer Abbott."

She smiled at him and said "Call me Sarah, Harry. You would have had the world been fair."

Harry gave a nod of acceptance and turned to lead the way upstairs.

* * *

"…and then your mother nailed him with a boils hex," Sarah continued to explain, much to Harry's amusement "He had a massive one right between his eyes for about a week after that, as nothing the school nurse could do would get it to go down."

Harry chuckled in amusement, enjoying hearing of the riotous relationship between his mother and father during their fifth year at Hogwarts.

Sarah Abbott smiled at seeing Harry so happy to learn of his parents. It was nice to know that the son of her deceased friends liked to hear stories about his parents, and yet at the same time is was disconcerting to know that he had reached the age of fifteen and yet knew so little about them.

More disconcerting, however, were the results she was getting from her tests. Amelia had warned her about the scars on his back, but she hadn't truly believed it until she saw them for herself. Following that the first things she had tested were his bones. As she had suspected after seeing the scars, many of Harry's bones had breaks or fractures that had not healed properly. Also his bones had grown poorly in general. After that she had discovered his malnourishment.

She didn't know how frequently Harry went to the hospital wing at Hogwarts, but there were some serious questions to be asked, namely how had Poppy Pomfrey missed all this? A more serious question was had she actually missed it?

The healer moved her wand over Harry's torso, a white orb of light glowing on the tip of it. As the wand was moved over Harry's right arm, the orb turned red. She frowned.

"What happened there, Harry?" she asked "The spell is reading that your blood was drawn from that scar on your arm for use in a ritual."

Harry looked down at his arm, and his eyes darkened "That's because that is exactly what happened. Part of the ritual that brought Voldemort back to life involved the use of my blood."

Predictably Sarah flinched at the name of the self-styled Dark Lord but she quickly got over that part. For her the real shocker was what Harry said after that.

Her legs felt weak and she sat down on the edge of the bed so as to avoid collapsing.

"He's really back?" she asked in a weak voice.

Harry gave one slow nod.

She took and deep shuddering breath and then buried her face in her hands.

Harry sat up "You okay?"

Sarah shook her head "No, Harry, I'm not okay. That basted and his psychopath followers killed nearly everyone I cared about… your parents… my parents and sister… friends, family, colleagues…"

Harry sat there feeling incredibly awkward. He never knew what to do about crying women.

Sarah wiped her eyes and stood up "Well, no use crying about it. Let's finish getting you checked out."

She drew her wand again and waved it over Harry. Immediately she frowned and muttered "Well that's not right."

"What?" asked Harry.

"You're testing positive for a Compulsion Potion," replied the Healer. She waved her wand again and her frown deepened "And you've been receiving regular doses for years, though not for a few weeks."

She waved her wand in a slightly more intricate pattern "You're also under the influence of a loyalty potion, though it's wearing off."

Harry frowned in confusion "Why would it be wearing off?"

Sarah gave a shrug "Maybe they failed to get a dose to you."

Harry thought for a moment before realising something.

"My birthday," he exclaimed "My friends kept silent all throughout the holidays, and then send me a load of sweets and cakes for my birthday but I was so angry at them I threw the lot away."

"Do you frequently receive gifts like that during the summer?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah," replied Harry with a nod "But also I am usually at the Weasleys' House by this point in the summer."

"Then we may have the "how" of the situation," said Sarah "If it's alright with you I'd like to take a sample of your blood. Hopefully I'll be able to isolate the potion in the sample and then trace the magical signature back to the brewer and the person to whom the potions are keyed."

"If the Weasleys are supplying it then it's probably on Dumbledore's orders," said Harry "The potions are probably keyed to Dumbledore as well. And if that is the case, the brewer will probably be Snape."

Sarah nodded, a dark look on her face "I was at school with that guy. Never liked him… the way he used to look at your mum gave me the creeps…"

Harry cringed and asked "Did he fancy her?"

He was surprised to get a laugh in return "Harry, just about every bloke in the school fancied your mother. Whether the believed all that pure-blood dogma or not, no red-blooded male could deny that she was fanciable."

Harry frowned and asked "Is "fanciable" even a word?"

"Of course it is, I just used it. Now, let me draw a bit of blood."

Sarah summed a small glass ampoule with her wand, followed by a knife. Using the knife she made a small cut in Harry's forearm and then held the ampoule to the cut, allowing some of Harry's blood to fill it. She then closed and sealed the ampoule, put it in her pocket, healed the cut on Harry's arm and cleaned the remaining blood from his skin.

"Are we done?" asked Harry.

"Not yet," replied Sarah, banishing the knife "Just a few more tests."

The next few spells turned up nothing, but then she ran the tip of her wand over the lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead. What he spell detected caused her to yelp in surprise and drop her wand.

"What?" asked Harry.

"Your scar," she replied, sounding frightened "the scar on your forehead. There is something evil behind it. Something dark… very dark."

Harry raised his hand to his forehead and ran a finger across the slightly raised surface of the scar.

"Does it ever bother you?" asked Sarah.

Harry nodded and replied "Yeah, it hurts every now and again. Especially when Voldemort is near."

Sarah shook her head "That is something beyond my capabilities to deal with, Harry. We'll need to contact a specialist to look at that scar properly. That Dumbledore has done nothing about it all but confirms that you haven't been receiving the medical attention you require."

She walked over to the desk that stood to one side of the bedroom and conjured up a piece of parchment, a quill and a pot of black ink.

"I'm going to put you on a course of potions, Harry. The way your bones have grown needs correcting, as do quite a few badly healed fractures and breaks. You'll also need a good course of nutrient potions to take as supplements to a decent diet. The potions in your system will have completely worn off in about a week or so."

She banished the quill and ink and rolled up the parchment and turned back to Harry "I'll clear it with St Mungo's for you to get your potions, and I'll see a specialist about getting your scar looked at."

Harry gave a nod of thanks and they left the room.

Downstairs in the kitchen they discovered that Susan and Hannah were sitting at the kitchen table.

Almost instantly a sense of awkwardness filled the air.

Confused at the change in atmosphere, Sarah glanced towards her daughter and her friend before turning back to Harry and saying "I'll bring your first lot of potions around during my lunch break."

"Yeah, thanks," replied Harry.

Sarah made her way over to the fireplace.

Hannah got up from the table "Hang on, mum. I'll go with you."

"You don't need to leave on my account," said Harry, but Hannah just shook her head.

"No, it's fine. I'll see you later, Suz."

"Bye," Susan said to her friend, clearly not happy with the situation.

Harry gave a sigh as Hannah left. His relationship with Hufflepuff house as a whole had frequently been a turbulent one, and Hannah Abbott was one of the worst examples of that relationship.

Sarah disappeared through the floo as well, and suddenly Harry found himself alone with Susan Bones.

The two of them looked at each other without a clue as to what to say.

Finally Harry settled on leaving.

"Where are you going?" asked Susan.

"Up to my room," replied Harry "You shouldn't feel awkward in your own home."

"You don't have to," said Susan, but Harry waved her off and carried on out of the room.

Harry gave a heavy sigh as he climbed the staircase once again. He was grateful to Madam Bones for taking him in, but he got the sneaking suspicion that he would have been better off staying elsewhere. Hufflepuffs were second only to the Slytherins in having problems with Harry Potter, and both Susan and Hannah had been amongst those to badmouth Harry in his second and fourth years at Hogwarts. On both occasions Hannah had been worse than Susan, but that did not make Harry and more inclined to forgive the redhead for her behaviour.

Even though with both situations most Hufflepuffs, including Susan and Hannah, had come around to the truth, Harry had yet to meet an apologetic Hufflepuff, except for Ernie MacMillan, who had offered an awkward apology in second year after the truth had pretty much slapped him around the face.

Harry supposed that he could forgive second year, as there had been a bit of evidence, no matter how circumstantial, that he could have been the Heir of Slytherin who was terrorising the school at the time, and he supposed he could overlook the Hufflepuffs' anger towards him at the beginning of the Tri-Wizard tournament as, despite not entering himself in the tournament, his involvement did kind-of overshadow the participation of Cedric Diggory, a popular student in Hufflepuff house. However, Harry was not disposed to be so understanding when it came to those badges. Had a Hufflepuff come up with the badges, fine, but those badges were made by school bully Draco Malfoy for no other reason than to torment Harry. That the Hufflepuffs also paid Malfoy for the badges just made it worse. That, Harry decided, would require a proper apology.

Harry reached his room and pushed open the door. Two House Elves were inside.

"Young Master," exclaimed one of the Elves "We is bringing your things from the home of your not magic family. We is testing it all for tracking spells and is taking them and putting them all on the bed at your not magic family's home."

"Great, thanks," said Harry, taking a seat on the bed "So which items had tracking charms on them?"

"Everything is having them, sir," replied the Elf.

"I don't suppose that there was any sign of my owl, Hedwig?" Harry asked.

The Elf shook his head sadly "No sir, we is seeing no owl. Only owl's cage."

Harry sighed and slumped back on the bed.

"Sir missed breakfast," said the second Elf "Would he be liking a snack?"

Harry felt his stomach growl and smiled ruefully. Now that he thought about it, apart from a couple of scones early yesterday afternoon he hadn't had a meal since breakfast the day before. And the few scraps he could get at the Dursleys' could hardly be counted as a proper meal.

"Sure," he replied "Could I get a sandwich?"

"Of course, young sir," replied the Elf "How will sir be taking his sandwich?"

"Ham, cheddar, lettuce and tomato on wholemeal bread please," requested Harry "Oh, and can I have a goblet of pumpkin juice as well?"

In answer the two House Elves both bowed low and then disappeared with simultaneous pops.

Harry leaned over to his trunk, opened it and took out his Defence Against the Dark Arts Textbook from the previous school year. He then swung his legs up onto the bed and began to read. His concentration was interrupted a couple of minutes later when one of the House Elves appeared to place a plate containing his sandwich and a goblet of pumpkin juice on top of the bedside table before vanishing once again.

Harry continued to read for the rest of the morning, revising the defence material he had gone over during the previous school year. At around half-past one, one of the House Elves came back to inform Harry that Healer Abbott had come back from collecting the potions that she wanted him to take.

Downstairs in the kitchen Harry was relieved to discover that Susan was absent.

"What have you got for me?" he asked, approaching the healer.

She handed him several phials of different coloured liquids.

"The green and purple ones are nutrient potions. Take a mouthful of each with breakfast, lunch and dinner. The blue one will help your poorly grown bones to correct themselves and the red one will heal your old breaks and fractures properly and the pink ones will reduce the appearance of most of your scars. Take a mouthful of each of those three potions before going to bed each night, along with two mouthfuls of the clear one which will prevent those three potions causing you pain."

Harry looked down at the collection of phials in his arms and then looked back up at the healer and asked "Any chance you could write all that down?"

With a roll of her eyes she again used her wand to conjure up an ink pot, a quill and a sheaf of parchment to begin writing out her instructions.

As she wrote she continued to speak "I managed to contact a specialist in dealing with dark magic. So long as Amelia consents to it, he'll be over tomorrow afternoon to take a proper look at that scar on your forehead."

"Alright," replied Harry "Does this guy have a name?"

"Cyrus Greengrass."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "Greengrass?" he asked

"Yeah, why? Is that a problem?"

"Well, aren't his family a bit… you know…"

"What?"

"Well… dark?"

"No, Harry. The Greengrass family is not now, nor has it ever been considered a dark family. What on earth made you think that?"

"Well, Daphne Greengrass is in my year at Hogwarts, and she's a Slytherin."

Sarah rolled up the piece of parchment and whacked Harry in the head with it "You need to stop thinking things like that Mr Potter. Just because someone is in the house of the serpents doesn't mean they are evil."

Harry shifted uncomfortably before commenting "Alright, so I don't really know whether or not that family is a dark one, but she is a bully."

"Is she?"

"Yeah. She's in Pansy Parkinson's gang. Pansy bullies, Daphne and the others laugh."

"And have you ever witnessed Daphne bullying without Pansy around?"

Harry thought for a moment before giving a shake of his head "No."

"Then there might be more to Daphne Greengrass than you think. The Parkinsons on the other hand, now that is a family to be careful around."

Sarah picked up her bag and made her way back towards the fireplace. Once there, she stopped and turned around to face Harry again.

"Is there any reason my daughter cannot stand to be in the same building as you?"

Harry shrugged "That is a complicated story, but the basics of it is that there are frequent rumours about me at Hogwarts. Your daughter is one of the worst of the Hufflepuffs for believing the rumour mill, despite who frequently the rumour mill is proved wrong."

Sarah nodded "I'll have a word with her. I must say I really don't like the idea of you two not getting along."

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Isn't it obvious, Harry? Had the Wizengamot ruled in favour of taking you away from your mother's sister, I was one of the leading candidates to take you in. You and Hannah would have grown up like brother and sister."

She offered him a reassuring smile and then exited through the floo network, leaving Harry behind with a thoughtful look on his face.

He would have liked to have had a sister whilst growing up.

Harry gathered up his potions and headed back upstairs, thinking on the unfairness of his childhood, wondering how many other people had the right to have raised him, and wondering if he had been as discriminating towards Daphne Greengrass as he suspected her of being towards Muggleborns.

* * *

**A/N: So how was that? I hope I explained how Sarah Abbott wasn't a part of Harry's life in a satisfactory manner. Rather than be imprisoned like Sirius and warned off like Remus she was punished by the Dumbledore-run Wizengamot for pursuing her right to claim custody of Harry. Anyway, there it is, the mandatory "check Harry's health" part of the story. I will state here and now that I will not be doing the "long-winded shopping trip" bit until much later. The usual "Lord Potter" bit will be touched upon, but Harry will not claim it immediately as he needs to play an entirely different game for the moment. He will be aware of it, however.**

**Next chapter will see Harry's scar get looked at properly, and we will learn what Amelia's been up to, as well as a hint of Fudge's plans.**


	4. The Darkness Within

**Still can't believe the response that this story is getting! Thanks to every who takes the time to read and review; your feedback is very much appreciated.**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 4: The Darkness Within

That evening, Harry's reading was once again interrupted by one of the House Elves, who invited him down to dinner.

"If Susan's down there then it would probably be better if I take dinner in here," replied Harry.

"But young sir, Mistress Amelia was most insistent that you join her and young Miss Susie," replied the House Elf.

With a resigned sigh, Harry placed his book down upon the bedside table and got up from his lying position on the bed. He made his way downstairs and to the kitchen where Madam Bones and Susan were both already seated at the dinner table.

Seeing as there was only one other place set up at the table, Harry settled himself down in the seat and a moment later food appeared upon the plate, a combination of slow roasted beef, roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, boiled carrots, green beans and mashed swede. Having not eaten since his earlier sandwich, and before then not had a proper meal since then end of the summer term at Hogwarts a month and a half previously, Harry tucked in with gusto, doing his best to ignore the silent atmosphere that resulted from both he and Susan being once again in the same room together.

Eventually, however, the awkwardness in the air robbed Harry of his appetite, and he soon found himself just pushing his food around the plate with his fork, mostly waiting for any hint that he had sat at the table long enough to be polite.

Had he looked up, he would have seen that Susan was behaving in much the same way.

Also missed by Harry was the subtle look that Madam Bones gave to her niece that signalled that she wished to speak with Harry privately.

Harry looked up as Susan's chair moved back and he watched as she left the room.

Madam Bones turned her attention to Harry and asked "Are you aware that you were being followed when you were at the Ministry yesterday?"

"What?" asked Harry, surprised by the revelation "No, but… Hang on. Just before I was called into the courtroom, I heard the sound of footsteps. I couldn't see anyone, so they must have been invisible, but who-"

"An Auror of mine, Nymphadora Tonks," replied Madam Bones "I discovered her lurking outside of Courtroom 10 as we were leaving the trial. She was hiding under an invisibility cloak."

Harry's eyes widened in realisation "So is that the "quick bit of business" you had to deal with before that talk between us the Minister?"

"That's correct. As a junior Auror who had absolutely nothing to do with the case, she had no reason to be anywhere near those courtrooms. As the director of her department, I was able to easily take her in to ask her a few questions. I was unhappy to learn that she was there upon Dumbledore's request."

Harry's expression darkened "So the wrinkled old git can't be bothered to turn up and help me out, but instead sends one of his pawns to discover just how things went?"

Madam Bones gave a nod and said "It certainly seems that way. I was rather disconcerted to find that Miss Tonks seemed to feel that her acting on Dumbledore's behalf was somehow an acceptable practice and therefore exempt from the usual rules. The law says differently and she is currently locked up in a cell that only the highest ranking of Aurors have the ability to unlock."

"So you think that your department have become compromised then?" asked Harry "Not counting this Tonks person of course."

"It is almost certain," replied Madam Bones "Albus Dumbledore has a level of influence that stretches far and wide. There are likely to be many people within not just my department but the Ministry as a whole, along with the Wizengamot itself that report to Dumbledore, and I am sure that although Tonks was the one sent to trail you, many others would have been keeping an eye out for you."

"Does he know I am here?" asked Harry.

Madam Bones gave a shrug "I honestly don't know. You were probably seen being taken to the Minister's office, and I suspect that it was noticed that I joined the two of you there. Because you left the Minister's office by his own secure floo connection it will most certainly be unclear where you went, though this house would definitely be a more likely guess than most. I can, however, say for certain that Dumbledore knows that you did not return to the home of your relatives in Surrey after yesterday's events."

"What makes you so sure?" questioned Harry.

"The House Elves who went to pick up your things reported that a wizard under an invisibility cloak was loitering outside the house. That man was Sturgis Podmore, a man known to be loyal to Dumbledore. Podmore has since left his post and was replaced a sorry excuse for a wizard called Mundungus Fletcher, who has a strong reputation for being a petty thief who owes Dumbledore a couple of favours. Podmore has likely reported that you did not return to the home of your relatives during his watch, and Fletcher will end up reporting the same."

Harry scowled and asked "Please tell me you can do something about these people?"

"I can get them for loitering in a muggle area," replied Madam Bones "That your family lives there can be used to bolster the charges against them. For security reasons the location of your home is supposed to be known to very few. I am one of those who have been permitted to know, and even then it was only once you started at Hogwarts. That these two seemingly random individuals have been detected so close to your home, and remained there for a long time, is more than enough to call their intentions into question. "

Harry nodded, but then frowned again and said "Hang on, if the location of my relatives' home is meant to be kept a secret, why was it read out before the entire Wizengamot in that courtroom yesterday?"

Madam Bones smiled at him and answered "That is the beauty of magic. It can alter many things. Your address may well have been read out in that courtroom for confirmation reasons, but every person in that room who did not already know your address forgot it as they passed through the doorway as they left. And had any of them written it down, they will have found the ink used to be smudged and indecipherable, with no spell able to put it right. We do like to keep a tight security."

Harry was very tempted to mention Dementors, Death Eaters at the Quidditch World Cup and his name being entered into the Goblet of Fire, but decided to leave it. Instead he asked "So what's going to happen to Tonks?"

"She'll be let go," replied Madam Bones "Had she been down at the courtrooms for a valid reason, such as trying to find me to alert me to an emergency, then there would be no problem. Had she been there by mistake or just gone for a little wander, then she would have received a warning. However she was following the orders of someone else, someone whose intentions towards you are currently in question. I will not have someone like that in my department. It's bad enough having sycophants like Dawlish who obey the every whim of the Minister without having Dumbledore's lackeys playing by his agenda as well."

Harry gave a nod of understanding, but couldn't help but feel a little bad that Dumbledore's manipulations had now cost the young Auror something she had worked so hard to obtain. But then Harry was quickly coming to realise that that was how the great Albus Dumbledore worked: he turns people into his puppets and pulls their strings from behind the scenes, and then lets them take the blame for the actions he commanded them to perform when everything goes wrong, allowing himself to come out smelling of roses. That he would then later rescue the person he had abandoned usually made them feel even more indebted to him.

* * *

The next morning Harry once again found himself lying on his bed as a wand was waved about above him.

Cyrus Greengrass was a short and stocky man of about forty with sandy blond hair that was already greying heavily. Harry didn't know Daphne Greengrass all that well, but it was safe to say that she had inherited little of her appearance from her father.

"So what do you think?" asked Sarah Abbott, who had arrived with Greengrass.

"Well, I can confirm that your analysis of the scar on his arm is correct," replied Greengrass "the wound was made in order to draw blood for use in a dark ritual. However, you appear to have missed another scar on that arm, though it is understandable as the wound was clearly healed by the tears of a phoenix. That wound appears to have been made by the fang of a particularly large basilisk, and the poison was in his system for at least thirty seconds before the phoenix tears effectively neutralised it. There is also a wound on his leg, again healed by the tears of a phoenix, though this one appeared to have been caused by the bite of an Acromantula?"

He looked to Harry asking for confirmation. Harry gave a nod to signal that the man was correct on all counts.

"And the scar on his forehead?" asked Sarah.

Greengrass frowned and replied "I am not entirely sure. There is something dark to it, no doubt about it, but… Whatever it is, it doesn't belong. It's almost like a separate entity has attached itself to young Mr Potter."

Harry frowned and asked "You mean like some sort of parasite?"

"Yes and no," replied Greengrass "This thing is no mere creature that has burrowed itself beneath your skin to feed on your blood. On some level, it is like you are being possessed by another person, and yet clearly you aren't. This thing is just there, almost like someone tried to possess you, but they were killed and the part of them possessing you was cut off from the rest and remained within you, unable to do anything other than continue to exist by drawing strength from you."

"You mean it's like someone left a piece of their mind within mine?" asked Harry.

"Perhaps," replied Greengrass "though I would be more inclined to say it was a part of their soul."

Harry balked at that and said "Dumbledore told me that the scar was all that I was left with after Voldemort's attack. Do you think that it is a part of him that is in me?"

"That is more than likely, especially when you take into consideration just how evil it seems. Has it ever influenced you in any way?"

Harry thought for a few moments before replying "Well, the scar hurts whenever Voldemort is feeling a strong emotion, usually anger, or when he is near to me. Like when I was in the graveyard with him that night. The pain was so strong that I thought that my head might split apart."

"Anything else?" asked Greengrass "Do his emotions affect you in anyway?"

"Not really," answered Harry "sometimes I get visions of what he's up to, usually when I am sleep. And I have woken up feeling very angry a couple of times, though it goes away very quickly. And I've woken up laughing a few times, though I don't actually feel happy myself."

Greengrass gave him a look of intense interest and asked "How often do these visions occur?"

"Not often," said Harry "like with the scar hurting it only happens when he's feeling a very strong emotion."

"And how do you see things in these visions? Are they from his point of view?"

"Yes. It's like I'm seeing things through his eyes. But I don't think he knows it happens. If he knew, the visions would happen more often, as he would use them to purposefully torture me."

"Then we'd better take steps to make sure he never finds out," said Greengrass "I need to research this subject more intensely, but the very fact that you can and have been influenced by this thing tells me that you need to block its access to your mind."

He went over to the briefcase he had brought with him and opened it up. From within he took a book with a cover that was wrapped in a white fabric. He handed it to Harry, who saw that there were golden letters on the front that read "_Basic Occlumency: The Beginner's Guide to Protecting Your Mind_."

"Protecting my mind?" asked Harry.

"Yes," replied Greengrass "Usually it is used to protect yourself from those trying to control your mind through the use of the skill known as Legilimency. However, I am sure that it should help in protecting yourself from this thing until we can find a way to rid you of it permanently. Now, I'm not going to suggest that you will be able to completely block it from influencing your mind, but hopefully the use of occlumency should at the very least reduce the effects of that influence."

He zipped up his briefcase again and picked it up "I have everything I need to continue researching this matter. Mr Potter, I want you to read the first two chapters of that book and begin practicing the techniques that are discussed within them. If you are stuck or don't understand something, I'm sure either Madam Bones or Healer Abbott will be able to help you out as their respective professions require the both of them to have some degree of competency in occlumency. In a week's time, I will come back and use a gentle bit legilimency to see how far you have come in protecting your mind. If you have made sufficient progress, we will begin working through the rest of that book in order to build up your levels of protection, okay?"

"That's fine," replied Harry with a nod.

Greengrass left, with Madam Bones following on to show him out. Sarah remained behind.

Out in the hall, Amelia grabbed the man by his arm and said in a low voice "Just after arriving here, Harry told me a little bit about the events at the end of his second year at Hogwarts. He mentioned that a bewitched diary was influencing the mind of a student, causing her to set Slytherin's fabled monster upon the school."

Cyrus frowned "It is highly unusual for an item to possess someone, but what does that have to do with this?"

"Harry claims that the diary belonged to a certain Tom Marvolo Riddle when he was sixteen years old."

Cyrus' eyebrows rose "Now that is interesting. Where is the diary now?"

"Apparently Mr Potter destroyed it with a fang from the Basilisk that was responsible for all those students being petrified," replied Amelia "According to him the diary's hold on the student it was possessing was so strong that an image of Tom was able to emerge from the diary walk around and talk to Harry. The more time passed the more solid the image became."

"Merlin's beard!" exclaimed Greengrass "I guess we were lucky Mr Potter was on hand to destroy the thing before it was too late. I'd have liked to have gotten a good look at the thing though."

"Are the diary and the scar related?"

"Almost certainly."

"And do you have any real idea as to what they might be?"

"Oh, I have an idea alright. And no one is going to like it. But just let me confirm the theory for certain first, alright?"

Amelia nodded and sent Cyrus on his way.

* * *

Harry was sitting on his bed with his legs crossed and his hands resting in his lap. The book on occlumency was lying open beside him, but he was paying it no mind. He had read the first two chapters as Greengrass had requested and understood the basics, though he had had to ask for help from Madam Bones and Sarah on a couple of occasions.

Two whole days had passed since Cyrus Greengrass had recommended Harry begin studying the art of occlumency, and Harry was now making his next attempt as calming himself enough to enter his mindscape.

According to the book, before you could to anything else to protect your mind, you had to learn to pull all your thoughts, feelings and memories to a central point, thus enabling you to pull them away from a potential attacker.

To do this required practice in the field of meditation. Only by learning to calm yourself could you gain the necessary control of yourself required to being protecting your mind.

Late into the previous day Harry had made five attempts at this before giving up. Going back to the book he had discovered that each time he failed he had gotten a little more frustrated with himself. And the more frustrated he got with himself, the greater the chances were that he would fail.

So he had given up for the evening, and had just spent his time relaxing. The next morning he had made four more attempts, each one ending in failure. Again the cause was himself getting frustrated at his repeated failure (although admittedly the first attempt had been interrupted by that thrush singing in the tree outside his window.)

Now it was the afternoon and Harry was trying once again.

As the book required, he was sitting comfortably, his eyes were closed, his breathing was calm and even, and he was doing his best to block out everything around him.

Somewhere outside a Rook began caw several times, but Harry's ears barely heard it. He ignored the sound as he was ignoring everything else. A wave of peacefulness had come over him, and that was all that he had intended to do for now. However, when he opened his eyes, he was not sitting comfortably on the bed in his room at the Bones family house anymore.

In fact, although he was still in a sitting position, Harry was not actually sitting on anything. He was, in fact, floating. Immediately around him, things were lit up and visible. However the further away things were, the more they were obscured by darkness.

Harry himself appeared to be the source of light, although one look down at himself proved that he was not glowing or anything.

All around him, and in every direction for as far as he could see, there were scattered a great array of what appeared to be crystal balls, only they were all different sizes, with the largest being about three feet in diameter, and the smallest about an inch.

There were a lot more of the smaller ones, and the largest ones seemed to be scattered the furthest apart.

One of the larger ones was near to Harry and he approached it. As he watched what appeared to be a white mist swirling within thinned out and parted, and Harry found himself watching the events of the reptile house at Chessington Zoo.

Harry could not help but smile as the boa constrictor he had helped to escape snapped playfully at the feet of his cousin Dudley, and Dudley's friend Piers Polkiss. There really was something immensely satisfying about seeing two of your childhood tormentors receive a little payback.

Harry stepped away from the memory and saw that one of the smallest of the spheres was nearby. He reached out and picked it up. He did not see a memory this time, but he distinctly heard his own voice say "_Stupid greasy git_," which he quite rightly assumed then that this sphere contained a thought the he had had rather than a memory of an event he had experienced.

Harry began to move around, checking the different spheres for what they contained. It turned out that the smallest spheres, the ones below a foot across in size, were thoughts, their individual sizes a reference to how long the thought was. Above a foot in size and the spheres contained memories. Again differing sizes represented the differing lengths of each memory.

Harry found that by trying to think of the events that occurred immediately after one of his memories caused that sphere to come to him. In this way he was able to piece together certain events. For example, his first trip to Diagon Alley, the wizards shopping district in London, was not just contained in one sphere. Each shop he went into had its own memory sphere, with the events in between occupying slightly smaller spheres. There was a large sphere for his first time in The Leaky Cauldron. This was followed by a smaller sphere containing the memory of the little area behind the pub that held the entrance to Diagon Alley. Naturally his first walk along the alley towards the bank was a large memory, and his time in the bank was a large one to. The small conversation with Hagrid outside the bank was a smaller sphere, and his visit to Madam Malkins was a larger memory, with the following walk towards Flourish and Blott's was a little smaller, but not by much as it contained a long conversation with Hagrid. And on it went in that fashion.

Also Harry found that the spheres could alter themselves and split apart. In this way, if he wanted to remember his first meeting with school bully Draco Malfoy, that part would break off from the rest of the "First Trip to Madam Malkins'" sphere and become its own separate sphere. In this way Harry could watch his first meeting with Draco without having to watch the rest of his visit to the wizarding clothes shop.

As Harry continued to make his way further away from his starting point however, it slowly began to dawn on him that the memories and thoughts surrounding him were getting less and less pleasant. In other words, they were memories and thoughts he had been trying to push away and forget about, for years in some cases.

He came across one where his six year old self was forced to desperately scramble up a tree in order to get away from the pointed teeth of Marge Dursley's dog, Ripper. The rest of his so called "family" were laughing in the background.

Another memory showed himself being pushed violently down into a pile of mud by Dudley and Piers. Dudley then stomped on Harry's glasses to break them as Piers delivered a kick to Harry's stomach, causing him to be sick. The memory ended with Dudley and Piers hurrying off laughing uproariously as Harry lay winded in a mixed pool of mud and his own vomit.

Unbidden by Harry came the smaller memory containing his struggle to get home before he was locked out. This was followed by the memory of what happened once he was inside the house. Aunt Petunia screaming at him for daring to come home all muddy and then proceeding to make her disapproval absolutely clear by throwing a saucer she had been washing at him. The memory ended as the saucer smashed apart against Harry's forehead, knocking him out.

Harry pulled away from those memories before more had a chance to join the chain.

He was suddenly aware of an intense desire to wake up. He had done what he had intended and found his way into his mindscape. Now he needed to get out.

He began to move, looking for the middle point again and hoping that once there he would be able to leave. But he quickly found himself going the wrong way; the faint memory of his mother begging Voldemort to spare her son in the last seconds before he murdered her told Harry that much.

He changed direction, but that way appeared to be wrong as well, as a memory in that direction showed the Dementor that attacked him on the Hogwarts Express before the start of his third year at the school. Naturally that memory led to the one of his mother begging for mercy from Voldemort coming forward again.

Harry pulled himself away and stumbled backwards, right into a thought sphere that contained a line of thought he had one evening recently when he was blaming himself for the death of Cedric Diggory.

Harry wrenched himself away from the through and began to run. Given how there were spheres both above and below him as well as around him, Harry began to wonder if perhaps his starting position had been in one of those directions. Had he been walking up a gradual slope and not realised? When the memories began to form lines the spheres appeared to move towards him, but what if he had been moved towards them without his realising it? Had he been dragged slowly downwards?

"_Hhhhhaaaaarrrrrrrryyyyyyy."_

He froze, his eyes wide and his breaths coming in a fearful pant. He knew that voice, even if it was weak. But why would it be here? He hadn't touched a memory, so why would he hear it?

The answer came to him. Every single sphere rushed past him, vanishing into the inky blackness in the distance behind him. For a moment Harry was surrounded by nothingness. Complete and absolute nothingness.

And then it came from the shadows.

It was small in size, and appeared rather infant like. But there was no mistaking what it was. Harry had last seen something like this being dumped into a bubbling cauldron in the graveyard of Little Hangleton a little under two months ago. However, the two were not exactly the name. Though the one in the graveyard had been creepy, this one was covered in a thick red slime that may well have been half-dried blood.

Harry tried to back away, but the thing kept coming for him, bounding along on all fours like a dog.

Harry stopped, and a moment later so did the thing. It was less than six feet from him.

It raised his head and Harry saw its evil, snakelike face, red eyes and twisted mouth.

"Harry Potter," it snarled in the same cold voice that had attempted to murder him so many times.

"I have seen your heart, and it is MINE!"

Without warning the thing sprang at him. Harry tried to fight it off, but he felt its long, grasping fingers slip around his throat.

It was trying to choke him.

Everything began to fade as Harry felt himself falling backwards and down… down… down…

'_No, not Harry. Please, not Harry. Have mercy.'_

'_Kill the spare!'_

'… _and servant and master shall be reunited once more…'_

'_You're nothing but a worthless, good for nothing freak!'_

'… _See what I have become? See what I must do to survive?'_

'_There's Potter, the cheat…'_

'_He's a parselmouth, everyone knows they're evil…'_

'_Pettigrew escaped…'_

'…_maybe I am the heir of Slytherin…'_

'… _and the blood of the enemy, forcibly taken. You will resurrect your foe.'_

'…_And I am now going to prove my power by killing him, here and now, in front of you all, when there is no Dumbledore to help him, and no mother to die for him…'_

'…_bow to death, Harry…'_

'_Harry, wake up…'_

* * *

"Come on Harry, you need to wake up now. Just follow the sound of my voice."

"Is he responding?" asked Amelia, raising her voice to make herself heard over the frantic screams that were coming from the person on the bed.

"Signs are good," replied Cyrus "And he's stopped thrashing about. Keep it up Sarah."

"Keep following my voice Harry," Sarah continued, caressing her hand gently over his forehead, though carefully so as to avoid the scar that had turned an angry red "Come on now. It's time to wake up."

Finally Harry's screams ended, and his emerald eyes fluttered open, to find that he was lying on his back.

Sarah Abbott was smiling down at him, though she had tears in her eyes that showed that she had been very worried "Welcome back, Harry."

Shakily Harry pushed himself up into a sitting position, and Sarah helped him to move back to sit against the pillows and the headboard of the bed.

Harry could feel himself shaking all over. Sweat was running off of him, with his clothes and the bed sheets soaked in the stuff. His throat hurt badly as well. Had there been a mirror nearby he would have seen that he was extremely pale.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice croaky.

"We were going to ask you that," replied Madam Bones "You started screaming about an hour ago, and we've only just been able to wake you up."

"So, what was it Harry?" asked Greengrass "What is it that you saw in your mind."

Harry swallowed, through it was uncomfortable as his mouth was very dry. A moment later he summoned up the courage to reply.

"Voldemort. It was Voldemort. I encountered the part of him that lives within me."

At that there was a gasp from over by the door. All eyes turned just in time to see Susan disappear from the slight gap left open between the door and the frame.

Madam Bones got up and went to deal with her eavesdropping niece.

Sarah and Greengrass both turned their attentions back to Harry.

"So you encountered Voldemort in your mind?" asked Greengrass "What happened then."

"He attacked me," replied Harry, his voice now becoming oddly hollow "he tried to kill me. And I was forced to relive some of my worst memories…" he trailed off looking, for lack of a better word, lost.

"All the more reason to get that thing out of you then," replied Greengrass.

* * *

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Susan protested.

"Some of the worst things imaginable have been done by those who "didn't mean to,"" replied Amelia "In future when I ask you to stay out of the way I expect you to do so."

"Fine, but it's hard ignore that amount of screaming in your own home," retorted Susan.

Amelia sighed and replied "I know it is. But Harry was probably embarrassed enough without you seeing him in that state as well."

"What's wrong with him?" asked Susan.

"Too much," replied Amelia "Though most of that either stems from people poking their nose in where it does not belong, or ignoring things for far too long."

"That's why he's here, isn't it?" asked Susan "You want to help him?"

"It's time someone did," answered Amelia "For now though, I need one thing from you."

Susan gave a nod of understanding. What with her living with the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, this wasn't the first time she had been subjected to something she should not have either seen or heard.

She drew her wand, held it straight up before her and proclaimed "I, Susan Amelia Bones to hereby swear to not reveal any knowledge about Harry Potter that I have learnt in the past hour."

There was a glow that surrounded her before quickly fading out. Amelia gave a satisfied nod and told Susan to head up to bed. Thankfully she had already squared it with the Ministry so that her niece could use her wand to swear an oath of silence on any given matter. This way secrets were kept, and the Ministry did not waste time sending out owls.

She returned to Harry's room to find both Sarah and Cyrus leaving it.

"He's fallen asleep," explained Sarah "I've cast a warning charm around his bed, which will awaken him should he start having nightmares."

"Thank you," replied Amelia "Both of you. You didn't have to come on such short notice."

"Glad we could help," replied Cyrus "I'm just happy we didn't have to resort to drastic measures."

Amelia knew that he was referring to the collection of strange instruments he had brought with him.

"Should I have him continue his occlumency training?" she asked.

"No," replied Cyrus "It's probably for the best that he stays away from that thing in his scar until we know exactly what it is and, preferably, get rid of it."

Amelia nodded in understanding, and bade her two guests' goodnight.

As the pair made their way downstairs to use the floo in the kitchen to return to the respective homes, Amelia pushed open the door to Harry's room.

He was sleeping soundlessly, wrapped in sheets that one of the House Elves must have provided, and he had either changed into his pyjamas or Sarah had dried the clothes he had already been wearing and then transfigured them into appropriate bed wear.

She closed the door and began to make her way to her own room, all the while hoping that whatever that thing in Harry's scar turned out to be, there would be an easy and pain free way to get rid of it. Unfortunately bitter experience told her that life rarely worked out that way.

* * *

Many miles away, Lord Voldemort was glad that he had instructed all his minions, devoted or otherwise, to leave him for the evening. It would not have done to collapse in pain like that in front of those bloody-minded sycophants.

With a groan he pulled himself off the floor and slumped back into his black throne-like chair. For the first time in a long time he felt vulnerable, and that was a feeling that Lord Voldemort did not like. He did not like it in the slightest.

* * *

**A/N: So how was that? Did the way I explained Harry's mindscape make sense? It did to me.**


	5. Potters and Plotters

**Sorry this has taken so long. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 5: Potters and Plotters

The following morning Harry made his way cautiously downstairs. He remembered the incident the night before, and felt rather embarrassed by it. Really he knew that he had nothing to be embarrassed about, but something about waking up screaming just did not sit well with the fifteen year old wizard. Well, it wasn't exactly _macho_ was it?

Down in the kitchen, Harry found that only Susan was at the breakfast table.

She looked up as he entered and gave him a smile, followed by a bright "Morning."

Such behaviour immediately put Harry slightly on edge. So far during his stay, he and Susan had barely said anything to each other, far less exchange early morning pleasantries. Almost immediately he realised that she must have heard what had happened the previous evening and was now pretending like nothing had happened. The trouble was, it _had_ happened, and that just make Harry feel worse.

Deciding to bite the bullet, Harry forced a grin onto his face and replied "Morning. Where's your Aunt?"

"At the office," replied Susan "She had to leave early."

"Right," he replied, and then his mind drew a blank as to what to say next. Finally he settled on "Well, I'll just gave some breakfast and then get out of your way-"

"Oh, you don't have to," responded Susan "Come on, you've been here for a few days now, and it seems like you'll be staying here the rest of the summer. We might as well get used to being in the same room as each other."

Harry blew out a breath and conceded "Yeah, you're right. We might as well get used to it."

He took a seat at the table sitting opposite from Susan and immediately a plate appeared in front of him, courtesy of the House Elves, containing three rashers of bacon, two fried eggs and two slices of toast.

Harry finished two rashers of bacon, an egg and a slice of toast before looking up and Susan and asking "So… used to it yet?"

She smiled slightly but shook her head in the negative.

"Yeah, me neither," replied Harry, twirling a few bacon rinds around with his fork.

He gave a sigh and commented, mostly to himself "Should probably get out of that habit…"

Susan looked up and asked "What habit?"

Surprised at the question, Harry took a moment before replying "I usually save the bacon rinds for Hedwig, but she's not here."

"Where is she?" Susan asked.

Harry bit his lip before replying "I don't know. I sent her to deliver a letter to a friend, but she never came back."

Susan frowned and commented "Well that is strange. It's not like a post owl to not return home. Even if injured, a post owl has just enough magic about it to find its way home."

Harry tilted his head to the side and asked "Owls have magic?"

"Those bred to be delivery owls do," replied Susan "How else would an owl know where to go if it is being sent to deliver a letter to a place where it has not been before?"

"Their magic enhances their navigation capabilities?" asked Harry.

Susan nodded and replied "Of course. They also project a slight aura, invisible to the eye of most people, which ensures that they don't get attacked by things such as foxes, cats, dogs, eagles, buzzards and the like. Even magical creatures like a dragon or griffin will leave them alone."

"Huh," said Harry thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair "I never knew that. So the only thing that can harm a post owl would be…?"

"Bad weather usually only ruffles them," replied Susan "But they can still have accidents. But the biggest threat would be-"

"A person," Harry finished for her "Well, that doesn't bode well for Hedwig."

"Did your friend get the letter?" asked Susan "If they did, it might help you tell what happened."

"No idea," replied Harry "I haven't been able to communicate with anyone since."

"Could you not have borrowed Ron's owl?"

Harry hesitated for a moment before deciding to tell her the truth "Ron and Hermione seem to have abandoned me this summer. It was Hermione that I had sent Hedwig to. Neither of them had replied to any previous letters, and then one time Hedwig just didn't come back."

Susan scowled, clearly not liking the sound of that "Well from that it sounds like Hermione might be keeping Hedwig locked up. But why would-"

"It fits, actually," replied Harry "Ron, Hermione and a couple of others, including Professor Dumbledore, have all stopped communicating with me. Locking up Hedwig would be a good way to put an end to my attempts to contact them."

"You make it sound like someone has put a communication block on you," commented Susan.

"It certainly seems that way," replied Harry "Dumbledore stepped in so far as to get me a trial, but apart from that, I've been abandoned. No letters, no support for the trial, nothing. Everyone I thought I could contact and confide in appears to have just dropped me."

"No one came to help?" asked Susan, sounding incredulous "Aunt Amelia mentioned that your trial went before the Wizengamot and that was bad enough. Was there no one to speak in your defence?"

"No one," replied Harry. Although the trail was a depressing subject, and although he and Susan had not had always seen eye to eye, it was nice to see her getting indignant on his behalf.

Susan blew out an annoyed huff and muttered "Well, if that's the way society's going… Many decent wizards and witches would be turning in their graves if they knew this."

Harry frowned and asked "Why?"

Susan looked up at him with a look of surprise on her face "Seriously? You're asking me that?"

"What?" asked Harry.

"You really don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Harry the Potter family is one of the oldest in the magical world, and I mean globally. They're one of the most successful wizarding families in history. They were always guardians of the light and up until three generations ago they were among those that wizards looked to for guidance. That one of their descendants could be treated as you have been by the Ministry would have seen riots in the past. I mean some of your ancestors were a bit dodgy, every family has a couple of bad eggs, but to put a Potter on trial without a defendant? I'll bet those blasted Malfoy's got a real kick out of that."

Harry stared at her with a blank expression on his face for a few moments before shaking his head and saying "Sorry Susan, I barely understood any of that."

"Harry, I'm talking about history. Your history," replied Susan "The history of your family."

"Oh," muttered Harry "Well, I don't know anything about that to be honest."

"No one has told you anything?" asked Susan.

"You mean beyond a few stories of my parents' schooldays?" asked Harry, to which Susan shook her head "Then no," finished Harry.

Susan shook her head sadly and commented "Well, I don't know too much about your family in general, but I could tell you bits and pieces about the general history of your family, and those few members who married into my family."

Harry smiled at her and replied "I'd like that."

Susan stood up from her chair and led Harry from the kitchen to the staircase and all the family portraits that hung on the wall there.

"Well, let's see…" began Susan, her eyes scanning the portraits "Which ones do I know about… Ah."

She pointed to an elderly looking wizard who had lived between 1770 and 1878 "That's Alfred Potter. He and his brother-in-law Jeremiah Bones joined up with Alexander Parkinson and started up a brewery for wizarding drinks. There were several other breweries at the time, such as the one owned by the Ogden family which specialised in brewing their own brand of fire whiskey. Alfred Jeremiah and Alexander were able to compete due to their research into muggle confectionary."

"Our ancestors went into business with the Parkinson family?" Harry questioned.

"Oh yes," replied Susan "Actually Alexander Parkinson was the son of Victoria Meadowes and her Muggleborn husband Richard Parkinson. Richard Parkinson's muggle family contained a few members who specialised in the making and selling of confectionary. Amongst their creations was butterscotch. Alexander than took this and, working with Alfred and Jeremiah, created that oh so addictive wizarding drink Butterbeer."

"Well I'll be damned," said Harry, impressed "I assume that all three families still maintain some kind of control over the brewery?"

"The Bones' and Parkinson's do," replied Susan "I'm not sure how the Potter family is involved anymore, what with you being the last member of the family and not knowing about your family's part in the business until now. At a guess I'd say that the Bones and Parkinson families act as some sort of stand in until you are old enough to get more involved. Aunt Amelia is on the board of directors for the company, and I think that the Parkinson's are represented by Pansy's great uncle or something."

"Huh," said Harry thoughtfully before a grin appeared on his face and he commented "I expect that the next time I have a Butterbeer it'll taste all the sweeter knowing that my family played a part in inventing it."

"Only one way to find out," said Susan before calling out "Blinky?"

With a soft pop a House Elf appeared in front of them "Yes miss?" it asked, bowing slightly.

"Two bottles of Butterbeer, please," Susan requested.

The Elf popped away again, only to reappear a few moments later with two bottles of Butterbeer. Harry and Susan took one each and Harry took a sip.

"Well?" asked Susan.

Harry grinned and replied "I was right. Much more satisfying."

Susan smiled and took a long drink before turning her attention back to the wall of portraits "Let's see, who else have we got? Oh, there were go. That woman there," she pointed a blond haired woman with kind blue eyes "is Hyacinth Bones, though she was a Potter by birth."

"Really?" asked Harry, tilting his head slightly "She looks more like your friend Hannah than she does a Potter."

"That's because her Hyacinth's mother was a member of the Lovegood family," replied Susan "As was Hannah's maternal great grandmother. For some reason whenever a female Lovegood marries into another family, any daughters, granddaughters and great granddaughters are guaranteed to be blond as well. As you can see by the portraits, Hyacinth's two daughters and three granddaughters were all blond."

"Oh yeah," said Harry, looking it over. The process was something that was repeated several times in the Bones family alone.

"Over there," said Susan pointing to another portrait "is Henry Potter, who married Mary Bones. He lived at a time when Magic Carpets were still legal to use in the UK and he made his money importing them from overseas and then selling them on to the general public."

She pointed to someone else "That's Irma Bones, again her maiden name was Potter. She was the person who came up with the Pumpkin Pasty. That one there it Terrence Potter. He was a herbologist of some renown. I think he discovered, named and described about two hundred different magical plant species in his time, including the Whomping Willow, the Bouncing Bulb and the Bubotuber. And over there is Fiona Bones, formerly Potter. She was the potioneer who first came up with Veritaserum, the truth potion."

Harry stood transfixed. His family had contributed so much to the wizarding world, and yet he knew nothing of it.

"I don't know much else, but I'll ask Aunt Amelia how we can learn more. You're the last Potter. It's not right that you don't know."

Harry turned to her and asked "Is that expected then?"

"Oh yes," replied Susan "I constantly research members of my family. I have to know it because one day I'll take over from Aunt Amelia as the head of the Bones family."

Harry frowned slightly and asked "But what if your Aunt ever has a child of her own? Surely the laws of inheritance…"

"They don't apply in this situation," replied Susan "My Aunt cannot have children."

"Oh," replied Harry. He shifted uncomfortably for a moment before commenting "Hey, look! The awkwardness came back."

* * *

That evening Madam Bones was much later in returning home than she usually was.

"Are you alright, Auntie?" Susan asked from where she was already sat at the dinner table beside Harry.

Madam Bones shook her head and turned to Harry "Dumbledore has begun openly searching for you, Harry."

"You mean he wasn't already?" asked Harry.

"No. Well, he was looking for you, but he was doing it quietly. It seems that he has now decided to let the Ministry know that he cannot locate you. The Minister and I spent most of the morning arguing with him on the matter."

Harry paled slightly and asked "He knows I'm here?"

"No," answered Madam Bones "Though he might suspect it. We simply informed him that you have been moved to a new location due to concerns about your safety."

Harry snorted "I'll bet that went down well. That man has always insisted that my relatives' home is the safest place for me."

Madam Bones gave him a nod and replied "He did spend an hour trying to argue that point. Then he changed tactics and tried to insist that it was best that you go and stay with the Weasley family."

Harry chuckled and commented "The usual plan B for my summers. I take it you refused?"

"I did, and he didn't go much on that," said Madam Bones.

"I'll bet he used every angle to try and _"insist_" that I be moved there," said Harry.

"Oh, of course he did. He wouldn't be Albus Dumbledore if he didn't play every angle he could think of."

"Did he use the "_grandfather_" act?" asked Harry.

"That was act 1, actually," replied Madam Bones "Which he followed up with the "_Head of the Wizengamot"_ bit, closely followed by the "_defeater of Grindelwald_" piece. Then he went for the "_I know things that you don't but I cannot tell them to you_" part. Finally he tried for the "_in loco parentis_" act."

Harry frowned and asked "_"In loco parentis?"_ What does that mean?"

"It means "in place of the parent,"" replied Madam Bones "It refers to the legal responsibility of a person or organisation to take on some of the responsibilities of a parent should the need arise. Schools and their staff often come under this, and have to act in a way that suits the best interests of the students. It can also give a person the right to act as a parent to someone without adoption. A godparent could come under this, should a biological or adoptive parent be absent."

Harry didn't like the sound of that "So basically it gives Dumbledore the right to treat me however he wants?"

"No," replied Madam Bones "It only gives him the right to act in your best interest while you are under his care. In other words, he has the responsibility to make sure that well cared for and well provided for when he is in his care while you are at Hogwarts. All staff at Hogwarts act _in loco parentis_ to all of the students. However all of them, Dumbledore included, do not have the right to use this power once you are outside of Hogwarts. They can try and do what is best for you by calling you in during term time to discuss any issues you may have outside the castle, and they have a certain amount of responsibility to contact the necessary parties outside the school to try and resolve a situation, but none of them has the right to tell you were to go and what to do outside of the school terms, excluding homework, of course."

"So Dumbledore has no right to demand that I stay with the Dursleys or the Weasleys?"

"He does not."

"Even though he has clearly has done so on multiple occasions in the past?"

"It is not for him to make that decision for you."

"Interesting. So who can act _in loco parentis _for me?" Harry asked.

"Well, your Aunt Petunia, obviously," replied Madam Bones "Even if she has done everything she could to deny you. Her husband as well, I suppose. Were Sirius Black not a wanted man, he would be another, as he was your godfather. At the moment, as you are staying with me, I can act in such a manner."

Harry nodded thoughtfully and said "Well, I suppose that makes sense. Fudge did pretty much appoint you to look after me."

Susan, who had remained quiet so far, had a scowl on her face as she said "Aunty, if Dumbledore ever tries to pull that stuff again, point out to him that if he really were able to act as such out of school then he hasn't been doing his job properly. He's told Harry nothing about his family."

Madam Bones nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face "Yes that is a problem. Harry, if you'd like, I could try and source some books on the history of your family. I'm afraid that most of those belonging to your parents seem to have disappeared, but the Abbotts will have books detailing their family history like we have. I'm sure that we can gain a good amount of information for you."

Susan looked to her aunt and asked "But wouldn't those books have been moved to Gringotts or something? You know, for safekeeping?"

"It was Gringotts that first reported the books as being missing," replied Madam Bones before turning to Harry "Part of the clean-up that took place after Voldemort came for you as a baby included a team of Goblins coming over to remove all valuables to the Potter family vaults. They would take things like money, jewellery and other items of good monetary value, such as paintings or statues. They also take things important to the family, such as books on the family's history. In this way it is all much easier to distribute when the wills are read. Unfortunately someone got to those books first."

Harry frowned again and said "I don't know much about that night, but one thing I do know is that Hagrid was the first on sight. He told me he pulled be from the wreckage and took me to my relatives. All on Dumbledore's orders, of course."

"Dumbledore has always been a suspect," commented Madam Bones "but we've always lacked the necessary evidence to carry out a search of his home or his quarters at Hogwarts."

Harry looked thoughtful for a moment before asking "So, how likely is it that Dumbledore or one of his followers will come here looking for me?"

"It's very unlikely," replied Madam Bones "They would have to very stupid to come snooping around here. Not only that, but Dumbledore's got a lot more on his plate as of this afternoon."

"What do you mean?" asked Susan.

"The Ministry just passed an educational decree," explained Madam Bones, "Educational Decree Number Twenty-Two was made to ensure that, in the event of the current Headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry has the power to then select an appropriate person_._"

"Nice to see the Ministry stepping in," said Harry "We've had a few dodgy teachers in the past, what with Lockhart, Trelawney and Quirrel…"

"What positions are vacant?" asked Susan "Except for the obvious, of course?"

Madam Bones replied "The role of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor is the only currently vacant post. Dumbledore is always struggling to fill that position, and The Minister is already lining up his undersecretary to take the post."

Harry's brows furrowed in thought "His undersecretary? That that hideous toad-like thing that was dressed all in pink at my trial?"

"Yes, her," replied Madam Bones "The Minister is trying to get someone inside Hogwarts to keep a close watch on Dumbledore and prevent him building up an army with which to overthrow the Ministry."

At Harry's slightly incredulous look, Madam Bones added "That's what Fudge took from your meeting with him."

Harry blew out a breath and said "Okay, well I won't say that this is an all-round bad thing. Dumbledore does need to be reined in a little. I must admit though that I am a little concerned that the students will suffer at the hands of an overzealous Ministry."

"Madam Umbridge is not exactly qualified to teach defence, I'll admit," said Madam Bones "But I don't think she'll do too much damage in the role. They're planning to do a theory based course which, although not ideal, is far better than what that fool Lockhart had you all doing. However the real damage may come from Madam Umbridge's primary role."

"Her primary role?" asked Susan.

"Yes, it's not official yet, and The Minister is waiting for her to be inside Hogwarts before putting it into effect, but her primary role will quickly switch from teaching to that of High Inquisitor."

"High what?" asked Harry.

"High Inquisitor," answered Madam Bones "It means that she will be given the task of reviewing all teachers and other staff at the school and any who don't come up to scratch with be booted out."

"Well that's not such a bad thing," said Harry.

Madam Bones shook her head "Ordinarily no, it would not be a bad thing. However, due to circumstances, Madam Umbridge may well be looking to remove more than just the incompetents. Remember, Fudge is concerned about Dumbledore building up an army."

Harry could see where potential problems could lie in that area.

"She will also be looking at the Hogwarts community as a whole," added Madam Bones "And it is likely that she will try to change many other things as well."

"Looks like some damage control might be in order," said Harry "Can you get me a meeting with the Minister?"

"Shouldn't be too hard," replied Madam Bones "But why?"

"We need to put some control measures in place," said Harry "A couple of things here and there to reduce the amount of damage that this Umbridge woman can do."

"What makes you think that the Minister will listen?" asked Susan.

"Despite what Snape says," replied Harry "I have never used my moniker of "The-Boy-Who-Lived" to get anything. Maybe it's time I did so."

Madam Bones looked at him in surprise "You would endorse the Ministry on this matter?"

"If it gets us some necessary changes then yes," replied Harry "Hogwarts is supposed to be a place for learning. I'd hate to see it torn apart by a political battle between Fudge and Dumbledore."

Madam Bones agreed to set up the meeting.

* * *

Harry had a lot on his mind when he went to bed that night. As such, it took him a long time to get to sleep, but he eventually nodded off.

His dream was a fairly normal one. He was walking out onto the Quidditch Pitch at Hogwarts, his broom swung over his shoulder.

The sky above was a beautiful clear blue, and there was hardly any wind. That made for perfect flying conditions.

The stands were empty, as this was not a match. It wasn't even a proper training session. Harry was just here to have a relaxing fly about, a couple of laps around the stadium to allow his mind to clear, and for some of the stress of school life to leave him.

He was on his third lap when he noticed it. There was a small figure down on the stands. Harry stopped his broom and turned to get a better look.

The figure crawled beneath one of the benches.

Harry flew down towards the stands and landed a few levels lower than the point where he had seen the figure. He dismounted his broom and set it aside before climbing the few levels to the figure.

Reaching the point where he had last seen it, Harry crouched down to look beneath the bench.

There was nothing there.

He stood up and looked around, puzzled. He was quite surprised to find that the sky above was now red, through occasionally broken by thick black clouds.

He heard a sort of snuffling sound and turned towards it. It had come from two rows above him, slightly to his left.

He made his way there and crouched down to look.

Red eyes stared back at him, filled with hate.

Harry tried to scream, but no sound came out.

The figure jumped out at him, and crashed against his chest. Harry fell backwards and saw that the stadium around him was ablaze.

"_Wake up Harry."_

* * *

Harry Potter's eyes opened and he found himself looking into a pair of blue eyes, framed by auburn hair.

"Are you alright?" Susan asked him.

Harry shook his head, still shaking.

"Was it him again?" Madam Bones asked from her position by the door.

Harry nodded in reply.

"I'll contact Sarah and Cyrus," said Madam Bones as she turned to leave.

Harry sat up slightly. He was covered in sweat, and shivering.

Susan called for a House Elf to get Harry some water. When the Elf returned with a goblet she handed it to Harry.

Harry took a sip and felt its cool wetness soothe his throat.

He looked to Susan and said "Sorry to wake you."

She shook her head "Don't worry about it. You can't help it."

Harry gave her a look of scrutiny before asking "How much did you hear yesterday?"

"Not much" replied Susan "But what I did hear I swore a magical oath not to reveal to anyone who doesn't already know."

Harry nodded.

A few moments later Madam Bones returned to the room. A short while later Sarah Abbott arrived with a bag of potions, and a little while later came Cyrus Greengrass.

After downing a calming draught given to him by Sarah, Harry turned to Greengrass and asked "Any idea what this thing is yet?"

"I haven't been able to undeniably confirm it yet," replied Greengrass "But at the moment all signs are pointing to it being one thing."

"What?" asked Harry.

Cyrus Greengrass glanced towards Madam Bones before answering "A Horcrux."

Madam Bones gasped in shock, but she was the only one.

Instead the other three people in the room asked as one "A what?"

* * *

**A/N: So how was that? Sorry this took so long. I haven't really been in a writing mood lately. I've been trying to catch up on my reading of fanfiction as opposed to just writing. Obviously I have been reading those that I have on alert and a couple of others besides that happened to catch my eye, but it has been a while since I last just went through and delved deep into fanfiction archives looking for little gems to read. It's annoying how many incomplete fics there are out there, especially those ones you find that are really good but haven't been updated in two years.**

**Harry and Susan have now made some headway into becoming friends, but they are not best buds just yet.**


	6. Families and Findings

**I'd just like to take a moment here to address a review left by "Guest." Thanks for reading, but I regret to inform you that "Learnt" is in fact a word. I checked in my own dictionary from my bookcase, and a total of ten online dictionaries. Each and every one of them confirmed that it is a word. Admittedly they all said it is "British English" but as I am "British" and use "British English", I shall endeavour to use words such as "Learnt." You may also find that I spell "Colour" as exactly that - with a "u" - Don't let it put you off.**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 6: Families and Findings

"A Horcrux," began Cyrus Greengrass, resigning himself to having to explain such a terrible thing "is an object in which a witch or wizard has stored a part of their soul."

Harry balked and asked "I have a piece of Voldemort's soul within me?"

"It certainly seems that way," replied Cyrus "Though I must admit that this is the first time I've ever heard of a living thing being a Horcrux. A living this being a Horcrux is not a very smart move. You see, through the use of the darkest of magics and deeds a wizard or witch splits off a part of their soul and places it inside an object. In this way, should they ever be "killed" a part of them will live on, anchored to the realm of the living by their Horcrux. In this way it is possible for them to return to life. However, this relies upon the object that became a Horcrux surviving. Using an object that is hard to destroy is a sensible move. As a living thing, Harry has the potential to either be killed or die of natural causes and, presumably, the piece of Voldemort's soul would be taken from the realm of the living at the same time."

Harry thought on that. Although he wasn't all that pleased at having a bit of Voldemort's soul within him, he had to admit there was quite a bit of irony in the situation. If Voldemort wanted to kill him, then he would also have to destroy a part of himself as well.

"Is there any way to get rid of the piece of soul?" asked Sarah.

"Usually a Horcrux is destroyed by burning it with fiend fire or use of the poison of a basilisk," replied Cyrus "Obviously neither of those is an option that we would want to use here."

"But it may come to it," said Harry.

Sarah scolded him "Don't talk like that Harry."

"Why not?" asked Harry "In the end I might have to die so that Voldemort can die. There is no use in ignoring that fact, as much as I don't like it."

"He's right," replied Cyrus "Obviously we will do everything that we can to find another option, but there is no use denying that it might have to end in Harry dying."

Harry frowned as a thought occurred to him "Hang on, didn't you say that one of the ways to destroy a Horcrux is basilisk venom?"

"That's right," replied Cyrus.

"I was bitten by a basilisk," said Harry "Why wasn't this thing destroyed then?"

"I honestly don't know," said Cyrus "Perhaps you were healed too quickly, the venom being neutralised before it could destroy the soul piece. Don't forget it would have had to get through your system from your arm and up to the scar on your forehead. Had the venom been injected there then maybe that would have done it."

"Could that be an option?" asked Harry "Because I know were we could get some basilisk venom if someone can source some phoenix tears."

"I'll look into it," said Cyrus "Though I would prefer a less risky option."

Susan spoke up "How about an exorcism? You know, like how they get ghosts and poltergeists to leave old manors and castles. This can't be much different to that."

"That will be something else to look into," replied Cyrus "Though I don't know what we would do with the soul fragment once it's outside Harry's body."

"Could it survive without a host?" asked Sarah.

"I can't say," replied Cyrus "Remember, this has never been known to happen before."

He went over to his bag and picked it up "I'll speak to some contacts of mine amongst the unspeakables in the Department of Mysteries. If anyone could shed some light on our problem, it'll be them."

"Tell them they'll have the support of the DMLE should they need it," said Amelia.

* * *

Harry did not go back to sleep that night. He had been told to, but he didn't much feel like encountering Voldemort's soul fragment again, much less wake up the whole house once more with his screaming.

He settled on his bed to read a book for the few hours that remained until sunrise, and then headed down to the library, intending to discover more about his family.

Amelia called in to see how he was before she headed off to work, and about an hour later Susan joined him in his research.

His newly discovered situation was something that all parties elected to not discuss.

After a while, Harry decided to question Susan on something that he kept spotting in his research.

"Susan, how come all these families have titles, and what do they mean?"

"The titles refer to the status of the family and how important they are deemed to be," replied Susan, knowledgably "Nobody really pays it all that much notice these days, but it all used to be very important to wizarding society, and even now it can help you out a bit to have one of the high standing families on your side. As one of the oldest and most respected families, House Bones has the title "Ancient and Noble." A newer and less respected family, such as the Kirk family is known as a "Clan". Hang on, there should be a book around here somewhere…"

She got up from the table and began to scan the shelves of books until she found the one she was looking for. It was a massive and ancient looking tome, its cover made of worn old leather.

She set it down upon the table and opened it.

"Here we are. Families of wizards and witches are broken down into six groups. The first, and generally considered the most important, are the "Ancient and Noble" families. Then there are the "Ancient" families, the "Noble" families, the "Lesser" families, the "Clan" families and the "Newblood" families."

"An Ancient and Noble family is one that has been around a long time and is highly respected. Usually there are great deeds associated with these families.

"An Ancient family is one that has been around for a long time but is not so well respected.

"A Noble family is one that has not been around for very long, but is respected. Again those families are usually associated with great deeds.

"It is possible for a family to lose its "Noble" status, as happened with the Gaunt family a couple of centuries ago, through misdeeds. However the only way to lose your "Ancient" status is for your family to go extinct.

"A Lesser is a family that has not been around for very long, and is not too well respected.

"A Clan family has to be at least three generations old. They are not yet old enough or respected enough to be a "Lesser" house. A Clan family may also be an older family that has lost much of its status, wealth and respect. This happened to the Macnair family."

"And lastly a Newblood family is one that is less than three generations old."

Harry nodded thoughtfully "Seems simple enough, I guess. Are Muggleborns taken into consideration in this?"

"Once they marry, yes," replied Susan "For example, once Justin Finch-Fletchley from Hufflepuff marries, he will be the head of the Newblood House of Finch-Fletchley. Even if he were to marry a pure-blood witch from an Ancient and Noble house, his family would still be called a Newblood family. Sally-Anne Perks on the other hand will just become a part of whatever house she marries into. Were she to marry Justin, she would be a part of the Newblood House of Finch-Fletchley, but were she to marry, say Neville Longbottom, she would be a part of the Noble and Ancient House of Longbottom."

"Okay," said Harry "And then once the Newblood House of Finch-Fletchley became three generations old, it would become known as the Clan House of Finch-Fletchley?"

"Exactly," said Susan "And they would remain at that status until they were deemed to have earned the right to become a "Lesser" House."

Harry nodded in understanding before asking "So which families have which titles?"

Susan flipped through a couple of pages in the book before finding an answer. She frowned though and said "This needs updating. The McKinnon and Meadowes families are still listed under the "Ancient and Noble" section."

"Did they lose their Noble status?" asked Harry.

Susan shook her head "No. They went extinct. You-Know-Who wiped them out in the war."

"Shows how much he values the purity of blood," commented Harry.

"Actually of the seven Noble and Ancient families that were around at the start of the war, only the Black family bought into all the "purity of blood" crap," said Susan "The rest of us don't. Neville may be a pureblood, but his parents were a mix. His father was a pureblood, and his mother was a half-blood. That's enough to consider Neville a pureblood, but for the elitists, it isn't."

"So then as long as at least one of your parents is pureblood and the other is at least a half blood, you are a pureblood?" asked Harry.

"That's one way in which it works," replied Susan "But you can actually have two half-bloods as parents and still be considered pure, though again the elitists don't like it."

Harry nodded thoughtfully and said "I think I get it. But where does all this pureblood elitism come from, if this house system is in place?"

"Most of them are upstarts from the Lesser and Clan families who think they should be higher ranking," said Susan "The Malfoy, Bulstrode and Flint families are Lesser Houses who think that they should be considered either Noble or Ancient, and the Carrow, Macnair and Rosier families are all Clan families who think that they ought to be Noble. Then there are a few Ancient families who get in on the act. They are the likes of the Nott, Goyle and Gaunt who lost their Noble status and refuse to accept it. It really annoys a lot of these people that some of the higher ranking families contain so many half-bloods and frequently marry Muggleborns. In their opinions we should be the purest of the pure, and if we refuse to be then we need to be eliminated."

Harry wrinkled his nose in disgust "Lovely. So how did the Black family get mixed up in the pureblood dogma?"

Susan shrugged and replied "I suppose they were less careful about who they married. You and I are both related to the Black family, but for the past few generations the Blacks have mostly been marrying the likes of the Malfoys, Flints and Goyles. And eventually they were being influenced by these families. There was a movement back along to try and strip the Black family of its "Noble" status, but that ground to a halt. Aunt Amelia suspects Lucius Malfoy had something to do with it. His wife is a Black and currently his son stands to inherit a lot from the Black estate, what with Bellatrix being in Azkaban, Sirius being on the run, Regulus dead and Andromeda banished. Should Sirius Black die then the estate will be handed over to the Malfoy family. Such an inheritance would force their status to be raised to Ancient."

Harry snorted in derision "Just what Hogwarts needs, Draco Malfoy strutting around playing the "Ancient Family" bit. He's bad enough now."

"You would be well within your rights to slap him down, Harry," replied Susan "The Potter family is Ancient and Noble. You outrank him."

Harry looked at her with surprise showing on his face "I outrank Draco?"

"You certainly do," said Susan "And you can use that to knock the wind out of him. That's how Hannah and I deal with him."

"Hannah outranks him too?" asked Harry.

Susan nodded "Yes, the Abbott, Bones, Potter, Longbottom and Black families are the only current holders of the Ancient and Noble status. As I mentioned before, the Meadowes and McKinnon families used to have this rank before going extinct, and the Nott, Goyle, Gaunt and a few other families have lost their "Noble" status. Actually, I think that the Gaunt family has gone extinct as well."

"You said earlier that when a woman marries, her status changes to that of the house that she married into. What if there was a woman who was a part of the McKinnon family who married into another family before the McKinnon's were wipes out? Could she not have some way to save the family?"

"She could," replied Susan "Naturally the oldest son would have to take the name of his father, but a second son could grow up to head the McKinnon family once more, so long as his father agreed to it. Actually I believe that that could happen with the Noble House of Prewitt. Gideon and Fabien Prewitt were the last to have the name and they died in the war, but their sister is Molly Weasley. If Arthur Weasley agreed to it, any of those sons, apart from the oldest, could take on the name Prewitt and continue the family. Obviously the second oldest son would have the first in line of the Prewitt family, but any of the other four could take on the name also."

"Would the revived family keep its status?" asked Harry.

"That's kind of a grey area," replied Susan "In a fair world then yes they would, but it depends entirely upon the situation. Someone is bound to call it into question these days, especially with regards to the "Noble" status."

Harry nodded but then grinned and said "Well, you've told me who is Ancient and Noble, but what about the rest? Who can I lord it over?"

"Everyone apart from me, Hannah and Neville," replied Susan "If you were that way inclined of course. However, if you must know the Ancient families are the Houses of Bagshot, Bole, Diggory, Goyle, Macmillan, Nott, Smith, Turpin, Gaunt, Marchbanks, Montague, Ogden and Peverell. Of those Gaunt and Peverell are now believed to be extinct."

"Cedric was from an Ancient House?" asked Harry in surprise "Wow, you'd think the Ministry would put a bit more effort into finding out the truth about how he died."

"Not with Lucius Malfoy lining the Minister's pockets," replied Susan, darkly.

She continued "The Noble families are the Houses of Avery, Bagwell, Boot, Cauldwell, Dagworth, Dumbledore, Fenwick, Fudge, Greengrass, Harper, McGonagall, McLaggen, Parkinson, Prewitt, Proudfoot, Rookwood, Scrimgeour and Vector. None of those families have gone extinct."

"Dumbledore and Fudge are considered Noble?" asked Harry.

Susan nodded "According to this, the Dumbledore family is quite young in comparison to some others, but it was granted its Noble status after Albus Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald. Fudge being Minster was an automatic ticket to his family becoming Noble, not that the buffoon deserves it."

"And McGonagall?" asked Harry "What did her family do?"

Susan flipped through several pages of the book with a frown on her face "It doesn't say. Our Professor is a Half-Blood, and her mother was a half-blood, while her father was a Muggle…" Susan flicked through several more pages before shaking her head "I don't see how her family came to be considered Noble…"

Susan flicked through several more pages, before brightening "Ah, here it is. The McGonagall line was believed to have gone extinct four generations before our Professor came along. If her father was descended from a squib of the family then she must have been able to claim back her status. Anyway…"

She flicked back through the book to find the list of families again.

"The Lesser families are the Houses of Babbling, Belby, Borgin, Brown, Bulstrode, Crabbe, Davies, Doge, Finnigan, Flint, Frobisher… oh, that's interesting," she exclaimed.

"What is?" asked Harry.

Susan turned the book around so that Harry could see the page more clearly. She pointed to a name on the list.

Harry leaned forward and read "The Lesser House of Granger (possibly extinct.)"

He leaned back in his chair "Hermione's from a Lesser House?"

"If this is the same situation as with Professor McGonagall then yes," replied Susan.

Harry thought for a moment before realising something "Hang on, earlier you said that the Malfoys are a Lesser House. Does that mean Hermione and Draco are on even footing?"

"If it can be proved that Hermione is a direct descendant of the Granger family mentioned in this book then yes," replied Susan "And although he doesn't have to like her, young Mr Malfoy would be forced to be civil to her, at least in public."

Harry smirked, imagining the look of Draco Malfoy's face as he was forced to say "thank you" to Hermione when she held a door open for him in a public place.

Then he remembered that Hermione was a bit of a sore point for him at the moment and decided to hurry Susan along with the other names.

She gave him a sympathetic smile before continuing to read out the remaining names of Lesser House families "Johnson, Jones, Lockhart, Lovegood, Lupin, Malfoy, Mulciber, O'Brian, Pince, Podmore, Pomfrey, Preece, Quirrel, Rhobards, Selwyn, Shacklebolt, Sinistra, Skeeter, Sloper, Slughorn, Stebbins, Travers, Umbridge Urquhart, Vaisey, Vane and Williamson.

"So this Umbridge woman is from a Lesser House as well?" questioned Harry.

"Seems so," replied Susan "I'll bet it hurts her too. Anyway, of those, Quirrel is extinct, as is Granger unless of course Hermione can prove otherwise, and Lupin is in default as the last surviving member is a werewolf."

"That's not fair," protested Harry.

Susan shrugged "I don't get to make the rules. If it makes you feel any better, the Bones family voted against that rule but were in the minority."

She continued to read aloud "The Clan families are the Houses of Ackerly, Bell, Branstone, Burke, Carrow, Coote, Corner, Croaker, Davis, Dawlish, Dearborn, Diggle, Fawcett, Filch, Goldstein, Hooch, Jordan, Jugson, Kirk, Macnair, MacDougal, Midgen, Moody, Peakes, Pettigrew, Pie, Prang, Prince, Pucey, Rivers, Robbins, Roper, Rosier, Savage, Shunpike, Spinnet, Sprout, Weasley, Wilkes, Wood and Zeller. Of those, Pettigrew, Rosier and Dearborn are believed to have gone extinct."

"Pettigrew isn't," said Harry, before muttering darkly "Not yet, anyway."

Susan decided to not ask what he meant and continued on.

"Current Newblood families are Cornfoot, Cresswell, Entwhistle, MacDonald, Quirke and Tonks."

"Is that all?" asked Harry.

"Quite a few Muggleborns were either killed or fled the country in the last war," said Susan "And don't forget there are those like your mother, my mother and Hannah's mother who married into other families."

That gave Harry pause. That was the first time Susan had mentioned on of her parents. Susan seemed to realise it to, and looked down at the table top, her face wrought with embarrassment.

"Was it," Harry began awkwardly "Was it the war?"

Susan shook her head sadly "No. They survived that. But a few years later a few Death Eaters who got off with the Imperius Curse claim got together for old times' sake. My parents didn't have a chance. Only two were caught and sent to Azkaban, the other five who were involved got away with it. Lucius Malfoy was implicated, but no follow up was ever made. This was before my Aunt Amelia was head of the DMLE."

"I'm sorry," said Harry, and he meant it.

Tears began to build up in Susan's eyes "I was six when it happened. They were going out for the evening, and left me at my Aunt's house. They said they'd see me the next morning, but they never came back. I came down the stairs the next morning expecting to see them, only to find my Aunt crying and grave looking two Aurors standing there having just delivered the bad news."

And just like that Harry had gone from finding out about the families of the wizarding world to sitting in a library with a crying girl, something he had no clue as to how to deal with.

Just as he was reaching out to try and awkwardly pat her on the back, as shout came from the kitchen "Susan! Harry!"

Quick as a flash, Susan darted from the room, but rather than go into the kitchen she fled upstairs.

Harry made his way into the kitchen to find Amelia standing there with Cyrus Greengrass and a man who Harry did not recognise.

"Um, Susan's not coming," said Harry "She's a bit upset."

"Why?" asked Amelia.

"We were talking that the subject of her parents kind-of came up," said Harry awkwardly.

Amelia smiled kindly and said "I'll talk to her. Cyrus, would you?"

Cyrus Greengrass gave a nod and Amelia left the room.

"Harry," said Cyrus "This is Algernon Croaker, he works within the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry. He has agreed to help you with your scar issue, but would like to examine you himself, it that's alright."

Harry nodded and said "That's fine, I guess. Can't be too careful I suppose."

It took fifteen minutes for Croaker to confirm that the thing in Harry's scar was indeed a Horcrux.

"Can you get rid of it?" asked Cyrus.

Croaker gave a nod and answered "I believe so. That exorcism idea you told me about should work. I'll need to obtain a few things, but we should be able to do it on Friday."

Harry sat up, alarmed "Friday? But that's three days away. I can't go without sleep for that long."

"You should be fine with a dreamless sleep potion," replied Croaker "I know that Healer Abbott was wary of giving it to you, but I cannot see there being any problems. And three nights is not enough to cause an addiction issue."

Cyrus nodded and said "I'll contact Healer Abbott once I get back to the Ministry. Thank you, Croaker."

"Yes, thank you," said Harry.

Croaker nodded to the two of them and then turned and left.

Cyrus made to follow, but the concern must have been showing on Harry's face. The man smiled reassuringly at him and said "Harry, relax. We know what it is and that in and of itself is half the battle won. Just you wait, come Saturday morning, you'll feel like a new person."

Harry nodded, though he was not entirely convinced.

* * *

Not long after Cyrus Greengrass left, Amelia left as well. On the way out she informed Harry that Susan had fallen asleep.

Healer Abbott stopped by a little later to drop of a few bottles of the dreamless sleep potion, but apart from that Harry spent the rest of the afternoon on his own.

It was not until dinner that evening that Harry saw Susan again. She wouldn't look at him, and he quite rightly guessed that she was embarrassed about breaking down in front of him like she had done.

They began their meal in silence, though thankfully Amelia's return home a few minutes later put paid to that.

"Well, the Minister is livid," she informed them as she sat down.

"Why?" asked Harry.

"Dumbledore has scuppered his plans to get Dolores Umbridge into the Defence job by filling the post," replied Amelia as she added some vinegar to her meal.

"Who did he employ?" asked Susan.

"None other than Nymphadora Tonks," replied Amelia with a smirk "Dear old Cornelius just about hit the roof."

"I'm not surprised with the way she was kicked out of the Ministry," said Harry.

"Yes, and Fudge did try to argue that point, but Dumbledore had a better argument. As a recently trained Auror, Miss Tonks is far more qualified to teach defence to the students of Hogwarts that the Undersecretary could ever hope to be."

"So that's it then?" asked Harry "Fudge's plans are scuppered."

"Not entirely," said Amelia "He is still adamant that there will be a High Inquisitor at Hogwarts, and he is determined that Dolores Umbridge will be the one to fill that role. The defence thing was just to try and get her into the school without seeming too forceful. Dumbledore employing Tonks means that Fudge will now have to resort to other measures. Dolores Umbridge will be inside Hogwarts as the High Inquisitor whether Dumbledore likes it or not."

"Fan-friggin-tastic," muttered Harry darkly "I wouldn't mind it is it was a decent person being put in the job, but that Umbridge woman gives me the creeps."

Amelia nodded in understanding and said "I know what you mean. She is not very well liked at the Ministry. I don't think even Fudge is all that fond of her to be honest, she's just a yes person. I think he chose her for the role just so he doesn't have to see her every day. Be warned though, Harry, she's prejudiced. She might not be homicidal like the Death Eaters were, but she does think that Muggleborns only belong on the bottom rung of society. And she hates werewolves, goblins, centaurs and giants, so Rubeus Hagrid will be having problems. And she may try and pick a fight with the centaurs to try and get rid of them."

"Charming," said Harry "I'm beginning to rethink my plans if they mean having to endure working with her."

Amelia shook her head "You can't back out now, Potter. I've set up a meeting between you and the Minister for tomorrow afternoon at two o'clock. "

Harry nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. Madam Bones was right. His lies at the trial might have saved his neck from an unfair and unjustifiable punishment, but now Hogwarts, or more specifically its students, were now threatened because of those lies.

Damage control was needed, and as the person who told the lies in the first place, it was up to Harry to try and put things right.

Well, he'd give it a bloody good go at least.

* * *

**A/N: So that's chapter 6. I hope you enjoyed it. I've never really bothered with the "families" angle of the wizarding world myself, but it was fun to play around with it and decide who goes where. I expect that some of you will think of a hundred other surnames that I didn't include, but nevermind. For those of you who are wondering, Chang, Li, Patil, Dolohov, Rowle and Lestrange, amongst others, are considered to be "foreign families" and so are not included, but that does not mean that they are not well respected. And families like Avery and Rookwood still holding their "Noble" status has the same reasons as to how the Black family is still "Ancient and Noble" - someone stood to gain and stepped in.**

**As you can probably tell by this chapter, I will eventually be going the "Lord Potter" route, but I am trying to come up with a title other than "Lord" After all, this is a world with "Chief Warlocks" "Supreme Mugwumps" "Grand Sorceror" and "Auror." Something about "Lord" sounds too Muggle to me. Voldemort probably only went with it because it came out of the anagram and he was too unimaginitive to come up with something else. Really, what would be wrong with calling himself "Riddle the Tyrant?"**

**Anyway, any suggestions on what the title should be are more than welcome. Though it goes without saying "Douchebag" will not be considered.**


	7. The Proposition

**Sorry for the delay. I don't really have an excuse, except that this chapter was being difficult and refused to be written. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 7: The Proposition

The door to the telephone box swung open as the nasally female voice said "The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day."

A young man, who looked to be in his early twenties, stepped out of the telephone box and began to make his way across the atrium of the Ministry of Magic, heading for the security desk. The young man had light brown hair that reached down to his shoulders, and his eyes were a deep blue in colour.

This young man, of course, was Harry Potter. Glamour charms really could work wonders. Today Harry was meeting with the Minster for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, to discuss plans for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The disguise was necessary due to the fact that Albus Dumbledore likely had people within the Ministry of Magic who would tell the old man about Harry turning up at the Ministry, should they see him. As it was, Harry Potter appeared to be just another anonymous face in the crowd. Dumbledore was also the reason that Harry was using the visitor's entrance rather than using the floo network. Floo travel was monitored, and Dumbledore might just have one of his people in that department. However, the visitor's entrance was not monitored.

The meeting had been thoroughly planned for, but Harry was still nervous. There was a lot that could go wrong, especially if the Minister decided that he did not care for some of Harry's suggestions.

Sarah Abbott's dreamless sleep potion had, thankfully, worked wonders the night before, and Harry had not been troubled by visions of the part of Voldemort that resided within his scar, resulting in a rest filled night for all residents of the Bones family manor house.

At the security desk, Harry was greeted by Amelia Bones. Her insistence to the guard on duty that Harry was with her saw the man wave Harry on through without checking his wand.

Madam Bones escorted Harry over to the lifts, for appearances' sake, and then left him to it. Harry would be on his own for this meeting, as it would do no good to have the Minister suspect Harry of being a puppet controlled by Amelia.

The Minister knew to expect Harry to arrive in disguise.

After several stops to allow various other people to get on and off of the lifts, Harry finally stepped out onto Level One, which was home to the Minister for Magic and related administrative personnel.

Harry walked by several doors, including one marked "Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic" and another marked "Junior Assistant to the Minister for Magic" before coming to one with a golden plaque that read "Minister for Magic" in resplendent lettering.

The door to the Minister's office opened slightly, just enough to let none other than Percy Weasley, the Junior Assistant to the Minister for Magic exit the room.

The young man, only a few years older than Harry himself, looked Harry up and down before asking "And who might you be?"

"Archibald Gunderson," replied Harry "I have an appointment to meet with Minister Fudge."

"Very well, I shall see if he is ready to receive you," said Percy.

Harry gave him a polite nod of thanks as he turned back to the room.

A moment later Percy returned and said "Right this way, Mr Gunderson."

"Thank you Mr" here Harry took a deliberate look at Percy's name badge "Weatherby."

He saw a muscle twitch on the side of Percy's face as he walked past the Junior Assistant and into the Minister's office.

Cornelius Fudge looked up from some paperwork on his desk and smiled "Ah, you're here. Good."

He gestured with his wand towards the door and it swung shut and locked.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me on such short notice, Minister," said Harry politely "Um, if you would?"

He gestured to his face.

"Oh yes," said Fudge, drawing his wand again "Of course. _Finite Incantatem."_

The disillusionment charms on Harry's face faded out, causing the appearance of Archibald Gunderson to disappear, and the visage of Harry Potter to show.

"Excellent spell work by Madam Bones," said Fudge happily as he settled himself back into his seat "Now, as to why you are here. I understand that you have a few thoughts on how the Ministry intends to handle its tackling of the seriously falling standards at Hogwarts School?"

"Yes, sir, I do," replied Harry "And may I just say first of all what a relief it is to me that the Ministry is stepping in to address the situation at Hogwarts. I have been concerned for quite some time about a few of the things that go on up at that castle, and yet have never felt that there was anyone that I could turn to in order to discuss these issues."

"Is that so?" asked Fudge "And what things have you been concerned about, Mr Potter?"

"Quite a number of things," replied Harry "First and foremost, however, is security," at this leaned forwards in his chair and asked "Did you know that a fully grown Mountain Troll wandered into the castle one night during my first year?"

Fudge's eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh yes," continued Harry "It was all hushed up, obviously, but this thing apparently got into the castle and got down into the dungeons where it was seen by the Defence Professor who, rather than take the thing down like any competent Defence Professor would, ran up to the Great Hall to announce it to the whole school. By the time the beast was found again, it was destroying the girls' bathroom up on the first floor. A girl in there was nearly killed, and others would have been had they not been in the Halloween Feast."

Fudge was gaping at him "Why I – Well – I mean," he stammered "Well there were rumours of course, but nothing more was ever said on the matter…"

Harry nodded and said "Of course nothing was ever said of it. Dumbledore couldn't have that getting out now, could he? Then people would know of his mistake."

"What mistake?" asked Fudge.

Harry didn't like to say this next bit, as it meant that he had to be seen as thinking of the welfare of Slytherin students, but none-the-less it had to be said.

"Once the Defence Professor had informed the school of the Troll's presence, the great and wise Albus Dumbledore ordered everyone return to their House Common Rooms. But here's the thing, at that time the Troll was last known to be in the dungeons, and the location of the Slytherin Common Room is-"

"In the dungeons," Fudge finished for him, shocked "But surely they had a few teachers providing an escort, just in case?"

Harry shook his head "No, sir, they did not. The students were left in the care of the prefects."

"Dear Merlin," muttered Fudge, sitting back in his seat "Imagine if the thing hadn't moved off elsewhere…"

"The Slytherins could have walked right into it," said Harry.

Fudge shook his head before asking "Any other examples?"

"Where to begin?" said Harry "In my second year, how long did those attacks on Muggleborns go on for before the perpetrator was finally stopped?"

Fudge nodded "I heard more on that matter than I did of the Troll. Wasn't it Arthur Weasley's daughter acting under the influence of a dark object?"

"It was," replied Harry "Looking past the obvious question of how no one noticed that she was being possessed, the more serious question is how did such a dark object get into the school in the first place? I mean, I'm no expert, and I do not pretend to be, but surely there must be ways of detecting objects so evil that they can possess the mind of the one holding it?"

"There are a few spells that can be used to detect if an object is dark," replied Fudge "I don't know how to cast them myself, but they are used by Aurors who raid the homes of Dark Wizards."

"And yet those same spells are not used to keep Hogwarts students safe," said Harry "I know that it is highly unlikely for students to bring dark objects to Hogwarts, but Healers in the Muggle world have a saying which is "_prevention is half the cure_." I'm sure you can see how such a thought can be applied here."

Fudge was nodding with understanding "Yes, I can see what you mean. Stop the thing from even getting into the castle, and you've solved the problem before it can become one. But how would such a feat be accomplished?"

"Well for one," said Harry "when students get off of the express train at Hogsmeade station, they leave their trunks and things on the train, and those things are taken up to the school by, well I presume by the House Elves. How much trouble could it possibly be to have a couple of people spend half an hour walking the length of the train, firing off the detection spell at every trunk in every compartment, just to be safe?"

"Well, I cannot see that being too much of a problem at all," replied the Minister "What's half an hour of a few Aurors' time so that we can all have a little piece of mind?"

"Exactly," said Harry "A small change, but a significant one. It is likely that they will turn up nothing each and every time, but it is far better to be safe than to be sorry."

The Minister was nodding eagerly as he took a golden eagle feather quill, dipped it in some ink and wrote down of a piece of parchment before him _Discuss with Amelia about having two Aurors scan the luggage on the Hogwarts Express._

Harry smiled and thought to himself "_That's one idea given the green light._" Having already discussed his plans with Madam Bones, he already knew that she would agree with the Minister on this matter. Of his proposals, that one was the one he was most certain would get approval from Fudge, as it was a small change that would not cost too much, and yet would still make the Ministry look very good in the eyes of the wizarding public.

Having finished writing the note, the Minister looked up at Harry and asked "Are there any other concerns, Harry?"

"Well, obviously you are no doubt aware of the situation at the school last year," replied Harry "What with that Death Eater who went around disguised as Alastor Moody and who tried to kill me. Well obviously my concern there is how did a man go around the castle for nearly the entire school year and not get caught? I mean, I know that he might have ended up obliviating one or two people, but still…"

"You are concerns about other people infiltrating the school and using Polyjuice potion to avoid detection," Fudge finished for him.

"Exactly," said Harry "I mean if he did it, what is there to stop someone else from doing it? If a parent comes up to the castle in order to take their child away from the school for whatever reason, what attempts are made to ensure that it really is the parent and not some oddball?"

The Minister was nodding at his words and replied "I can see exactly where you are coming from Harry. That business last year was a terrible breach in the security of Hogwarts. I don't know whether or not Dumbledore planted that man inside the castle to serve as part of his elaborate plans, but either way someone like that being inside the castle walls and with access to students is inexcusable and efforts must be made in order to ensure that it cannot happen again."

He was already scribbling furiously on his parchment before he had finished talking.

Harry continued "There are also a few issues with some of the teachers at the school, Minister."

Fudge looked up from his note taking "Oh yes?"

"Not so much the quality of the education, you understand," continued Harry "though that does remain an issue in several areas. No, what I'm talking about is, well… it's their personalities, to put it bluntly. There are some members of staff who are very knowledgeable about their particular field to be sure, but just seem to lack the temperament required to pass that on to another adult wizard, far less teach a classroom full of students."

"Are we talking about anyone in particular?" asked the Minister.

"Well, there is Professor Snape for one," replied Harry, making sure to force himself to use Snape's title as it sounded more respectful "He come billowing into the dungeon classroom, waves his wand at the blackboard so that the instructions appear and then tells us to get started. After that he spends the rest of the lesson stalking around the classroom making everyone feel uncomfortable. Then when most of the potions brewed by the class go wrong, he calls us all dunderheads. He never takes the time to explain things or dish out useful advice and if anyone ever asks such a thing he either ignores them or insults them for not already knowing it."

"Good gracious," muttered Fudge "He sounds like an awful teacher."

"He is," replied Harry before leaning over the table to say conspiratorially "Most students hate him. They dread going to potions class because it forces them to spend time in his company. And he doesn't help himself with his awful temper."

The Minister was nodding "Yes… Yes, I remember that little outburst the night Sirius Black escaped from Hogwarts. A most unpleasant man."

"And had that irrational belief that I had somehow been involved with Black's escape," added Harry.

"I do recall that," said Fudge "I said to Dumbledore that night that the man was unbalanced. But Dumbledore insisted that he wasn't."

"That's Dumbledore for you," replied Harry "He is utterly convinced that his pet former Death Eater is a changed man and will listen to nothing that proves otherwise. The students gave up complaining long ago. They feel that there is no one that they can turn to."

"And that," said the Minister "is exactly why I wish to place Dolores Umbridge inside Hogwarts School. She will be there in order to review all the staff within the school and address the seriously falling standards within the castle. I just need a way to get her into the castle."

"I actually might have an idea on that front, Minister," said Harry "And it will also address the problem with another member of staff."

"And which member of staff would that be?" queried Fudge.

"Professor Binns, Minister," answered Harry "He is the ghost who teaches History of Magic."

"Dear Merlin!" exclaimed Fudge "You mean to say that Old Binns is still teaching? My word, he was putting classes to sleep when I was attending the school."

"Then you have first-hand experience of the issue," said Harry "I trust that you can see how detrimental to the education process a teacher as dreary as Professor Binns is."

"Of course," said Fudge "But how can that get Dolores into the castle?"

"Pass a ruling that prohibits Ghosts from holding academic posts," replied Harry "In that way you can get rid of Binns and put Madam Umbridge into the castle to take over the roll."

"I can only do that if Dumbledore fails to find a suitable candidate for the post," said Fudge.

"So don't let him know until the last moment," replied Harry "Don't give him the time to out manoeuvre you."

"Yes," said the Minister thoughtfully "You my boy have something there, you really do. We'll get the law approved on the day the students are all returning to Hogwarts, thus eliminating the potential of Dumbledore filling the History of Magic Post. He won't be able to, as he'll be far too caught up in getting the final preparations in place for the start of the school year. Excellent."

Harry smiled. His plans were working. He had horror stories about other members of staff as well, including Professor Trelawney, who taught Divination, and several Defence Against the Dark Arts Professors, but the two stories given appeared to have been more than enough to get Fudge's attention on the matter.

Now though it was time for the main event.

"Minister, I hope that you don't mind my asking this, but are you sure that Madam Umbridge will be up to this task?"

"What do you mean?" asked Fudge, and there was a sharp edge to his voice now.

"All I mean is," said Harry "that it will be her up against the entire school. With the odds stacked like that, I cannot help but wonder if she might benefit from a little help."

"Help?" asked Fudge "In what way?"

"Well, in addition to all the usual responsibilities of a teacher, she will also, as you said, be tasked with reviewing all the other staff within the castle, addressing standards across the board, dealing with students… surely she could use a little assistance. Someone to lighten the load a little bit."

"But if I were to try and place someone else in the castle, then I would need to find another position on the staff for them," said Fudge.

"What if you used a student for the role?" asked Harry "What if there was a student at Hogwarts, appointed by the Ministry, to help Madam Umbridge in her endeavours by, say, acting as a go-to person for the students and their problems?"

"Isn't that what the prefects are for?" asked Fudge.

"In an ideal world, yes," replied Harry "But to be honest prefects are a little too much associated with discipline, what with their patrolling the corridors at night, and their acting as an authority figure within the common room. Add that to the fact that they are appointed by the teachers, and you end up with students feeling that they cannot approach the prefects. What I am suggesting is a student who, while obviously tied to authority to a certain extent, acts as a slightly more independent body than the prefects are from the teachers. This student would be approachable by all students from every house in order to listen to their problems and offer up advice. He or she would also have the authority or dish out punishments is required, obviously. And, aside from all this, the student would act as a filter between the students and Madam Umbridge, only bothering her with things that the student really cannot handle and leaving her to deal with her bigger tasks. This student would also be able to act as the voice of the students at any faculty meetings."

Fudge was nodding in understanding. What Harry was essentially describing _was_ a prefect, but this one would be a prefect assigned by the Ministry, and Cornelius Fudge very much liked the sound of that.

Harry and Madam Bones had discussed the possibility of putting Harry's name forward for the role straight away, but they had decided against it. Such a thing might put the Minister off of the plan. Madam Bones would be sure to put Harry's name forward at a later time however.

"Very well, young Harry," he said "Obviously I shall have to discuss this with a few others, but I am reasonably certain that such a plan can be put into place. Was that all?"

"It was Minister," said Harry "And may I just say again what a relief it is to me that the Ministry is stepping in to address the situation at Hogwarts. Long overdue."

"Yes, I quite agree," said Fudge "Well, if that is everything, Harry, I do have some meetings to arrange."

"Certainly Minister," said Harry, standing up "Um, would you mind…?"

Fudge looked up "Oh yes, of course."

He drew his wand and cast a few glamour charms. The result was not quite what Madam Bones had achieved earlier, but Harry would still pass as being Archibald Gunderson.

Harry left the office and headed back towards the lifts. He gave a slight nod to Percy Weasley as he passed him, and managed to control his smirk when he saw Dolores Umbridge.

Harry got into the lifts which, after a few stops to let others in and out at the various floors, he was returned to the Ministry Atrium.

He walked by the security desk, where Madam Bones was waiting. They did not make eye contact, but as he was passing her, Harry gave a surreptitious thumbs up. He then made his way towards the visitors' entrance and left, intending to catch the Knight Bus back to Bones Manor.

* * *

About an hour later, Harry entered the kitchen of the Bones family manor and was met by Sarah Abbott.

"I've got a surprise for you," she said as she used her wand to get rid of the glamour charms on him.

"Oh yeah?" asked Harry "And what might that be?"

"My lovely daughter is here," replied Sarah with a smile.

Harry's shoulders sagged a little before he said "Look Sarah, it's been great getting to know you, and I appreciate everything that you have done and are doing for me, but if you are expecting me and your daughter to just suddenly start getting on like a house on fire then I'm sorry, but you're barking up the wrong tree."

"I whole-heartedly agree," replied Sarah "Which is why I don't expect the two of you to suddenly get along with each other. That's why she's here. The bridged between the two of you need to be rebuilt, but that cannot happen if the two of you don't go anywhere near each other."

Harry gave a groan and allowed his head to droop forwards before muttering "Fine. I suppose that I should at least make the effort."

"Thank you Harry," said Sarah "That's all I ask."

Harry smiled, but said nothing more. He had said he would make the effort to get on with Hannah, but there would be no friendship between them until Hannah acknowledged how she had wronged him in the past.

He followed Sarah into the drawing room where Susan and Hannah were seated on a long sofa, talking.

When Harry walked in both girls went quiet and looked up at him. He smiled at them, but headed straight over to the armchair in the corner. A book of his was lying open on the arm rest.

He had only just sat himself down and picked up his book when Hannah surprised him by coming over to him.

"Harry," she began "I have come to realise that my treatment of you in the past has been unfair and, at times downright cruel. This is a result of my paying far too much attention to the Hogwarts rumour mill and I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to you. I also wish to express my hope that I might get the chance to get to know Harry Potter the person, as opposed to Harry Potter the myth. Susan tells me that she has been getting to know the real Harry, and he sounds like someone I would like to get to know."

Harry was so surprised that for a moment he was unsure of what to do in response.

Finally he settled on standing up and saying "Apology accepted. And if you are truly interested in burying the hatchet and starting again, than I will be more than happy to oblige."

Here he held out his hand to her and said by way of introduction "Harry Potter, pleased to meet you Miss…?"

Hannah smiled at him and shook his hand, replying "Abbott. Hannah Abbott, and I'm pleased to meet you too, Mr Potter."

* * *

That night as he settled into bed, Harry thought about the events of the afternoon. Hannah's apology had surprised him, but he had been even more surprised by how easily he had accepted it. But on thinking about it, he knew why he did so. Rather than simply give a cover all "I'm sorry" Hannah had also acknowledged what it was she had done wrong, which was he basing her opinions of him upon Harry the myth as opposed to getting to know the real Harry and basing her opinions of his upon what she found out. Susan had later pulled him aside to apologise for making the same mistakes as well.

Harry found that he much preferred that as the way to go in the future. If someone wronged him, they would have to acknowledge what they did wrong and apologise for it. It was what he was going to expect from Ron and Hermione once he was back at Hogwarts, anyway.

The afternoon spent in the company of Susan and Hannah had made for an interesting one to say the least. It had been the first time where he spent time with Susan where they were both just being kids, and Hannah had certainly helped out with that feeling, as one thing in particular that Harry had learned that afternoon was that Hannah had a slight crush upon Harry's dorm mate Neville Longbottom. Hannah had kept quiet on the matter, but her reddening cheeks as Susan teased her on the matter all but confirmed it. It had been fun to watch the two girls tease each other, especially when Hannah brought up Susan's soft spot for one Eddie Carmichael, a boy whom Harry only knew by name, along with the fact that he was a member of Ravenclaw house and was in the year above them at school

As he thought about it, Harry could not help but smile to himself. Hannah would be very good for Neville. The boy was very shy, and Hannah seemed like the kind of person who could help him to break out of his shell.

Perhaps he ought to introduce the two of them once they were all back at Hogwarts.

He didn't know enough about Eddie to decide whether or not he and Susan getting together would be a good thing.

On some level he doubted it.

Harry blew out the candle on his bedside table and closed his eyes to get some sleep. Between his successful meeting with the Minister, and his improving relationship with the two Hufflepuff girls, Harry considered today to have been a very good day.

Unfortunately for himself and everyone else in the house, his thoughts on the day had distracted him from completing a very important task.

Harry Potter went to bed without taking his dreamless sleep potion, and the house was once again woken up in the wee small hours of the morning by his screams.

That damned Horcrux had to go!

* * *

**A/N: So what do you think? I thought that Harry explained his thoughts well enough, and his desires are not too unreasonable. Yes, Susan and Hannah have now patched things up with Harry, but everything is not yet completely rosy – that can only come with time. Harry does not really know either girl all that well yet, and nor they him.**

**Got some interesting responses to the "Lord" thing. There are no clear front-runners yet, but I do have my favourites. Keep the suggestions coming. The title is not that important for the story at the moment, and Harry won't be taking it for a while yet. If he does so know, he will be showing his hand to Dumbledore, and Harry's got Hogwarts to deal with yet.**


	8. The Exorcism

**Once again, thanks to everyone who takes the time to read and review. It is very much appreciated!**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 8: The Exorcism

The golden grilles of the lift rattled open, and the female voice announced "Department of Mysteries."

Sarah wrapped and arm around Harry's shoulders and asked "You okay?"

"Yeah," replied Harry with a nod, though he did not sound too sure of himself. His identity was once again concealed by a series of glamour charms.

"Come on," said Madam Bones as she exited the lift "the sooner we get this done the better things will be."

They stepped out into the corridor, the walls of which were completely bare, and contained no windows. At the far end of the corridor, however, there was a plane black door. To the left of them there was an opening that led to a narrow set of steps which led to the old courtrooms. The last time Harry had exited the Ministry lift on this level, he had continued on down those stairs in order to get to his hearing. This time though, he was led straight past them. Today they would be going through the plain black door at the far end.

As he got nearer to the door, Harry felt his scar prickle, causing him to wince.

"What's wrong?" asked Sarah, having noticed.

Harry shook his head and replied "Nothing. It's nothing."

That was a lie of course, he was not alright, and Sarah seemed to sense that, but said nothing more.

The closer they got to the door, the more the pain in his scar increased. He brought his hand up to rub it. It felt like he had a migraine.

"Harry what's the matter?" asked Sarah again.

"My scar," replied Harry, deciding to tell the truth this time "It feels like it's going to split my head in two."

"That might be the Horcrux," said Madam Bones in a low voice "If that thing is strong enough to attack you in your mind, then it might be able to sense what it is we are planning to do today and is trying to stop you from going through with it."

Sarah reached for the satchel that hung from her left shoulder and opened it. From within she took out a small corked vial that contained a liquid that was a light blue in colour.

"Here," she said as she handed it to Harry "It's a potion for mild pain relief and it should take the edge off. Drink it all in one go."

Doing his best to ignore the pain in his scar, Harry used his thumb to pop the cork out of the vial and then tipped the contents into his mouth before swallowing the lot.

The taste was not too bad, and within moments he could feel the pain lessening. It still hurt, but he was no longer being debilitated by it.

"Feel better?" asked Sarah as she took the empty vial from him and put it back into her satchel.

Harry blew out a breath nodded and then replied "Yeah. Let's do this."

Again as they moved closer to the plain black door at the end of the corridor Harry could feel the pain coming from his scar increasing. Thankfully though the pain relief potion was enough to allow him to continue on.

On the other side of the door they found themselves standing in a large circular room. The walls, the floor and the ceiling of this room were all black in colour, and the thirteen doors that stood at intervals around the room were all black as well, and each was identical to the last. Not one of them had a handle. On the walls between each of these doors there hung candles which burned with blue flames.

Now safely within the Department of Mysteries, Sarah waved her wand a few times to remove the glamour charms that his Harry's identity.

Immediately opposite them, one of the doors opened and through it came Cyrus Greengrass and the Unspeakable who had tested Harry's scar before, Algernon Croaker.

"Welcome, Harry Potter," said Croaker "To the Department of Mysteries."

"Thank you for allowing me to come here," replied Harry, knowing how secretive the Unspeakables were. He shook hands with both men.

"I trust that everything is prepared?" asked Madam Bones.

Croaker nodded and replied "Everything is in place. We have set aside a room in which to carry out the exorcism ritual. The required runes have been marked out. All that is left is to add a few finishing touches, for which we will require young Mr Potter's presence."

"Okay," said Harry "well, lead on."

Croaker looked up and said in a loud voice "Ritual Rooms."

The circular wall of the room began to turn anticlockwise slowly. It stopped a moment later, and one of the doors swung open.

Croaker took the lead, and the group followed on behind. Beyond the door was another corridor that seemed to go on for miles. Indeed the other end was not visible, even though the corridor did not turn at all.

In the walls on either side of the corridor there were more black doors. These looked almost as identical to each other as the ones in the circular room, but there was one significant difference to each door. They were numbered with small, golden roman numerals. Doors marked with odd numbers, such as one, three and five were located along the left wall, and the doors opposite them on the right wall were even numbered, two, four, six and so on.

"These rooms are where we carry out certain rituals," explained Croaker "Sometimes the only way to remove a dark enchantment from something is through a ritual. We hope to combine that practice with the ritual used to expel poltergeists from buildings in order to remove the Horcrux from you, Mr Potter."

Harry frowned, not entirely liking the sound of that "So this will be an experimental procedure? You've never actually done this before?"

"Unfortunately yes, this will be experimental," replied Croaker "Please understand though, Mr Potter, Horcruxes are very rare things indeed as very few people are prepared to live with the consequences of making one, and there certainly has never been a recorded instance of a living thing being a Horcrux. This is entirely new territory in a very poorly studied field. We aim to do the best that we can with what little we have."

Harry still was not entirely convinced by that, but he wanted the damned piece of his enemy gone, and so far this from the Unspeakables was the best option to be offered up.

The group came to a stop by a door marked with the roman numerals XLII.

Beyond the door they found a relatively small room, in which there were three other unspeakables. On the floor there were five small rocks, each one carved with a series of runes the meanings of which Harry did not even begin to comprehend, as he had not taken the option to study runes at school. Each of these five stones was joined to all the others by lines carved into the floor. These lines formed the image of a five-point star surrounded by a pentagon.

"The first thing that we are going to need from you, Mr Potter," said Croaker, who did not seem to feel it necessary to introduce his co-workers "is for you to add several drops of your blood to each rune on each rune stone."

At Harry's nod of understanding Croaker produced a knife and used it to place a cut onto the palm of Harry's hand.

Madam Bones shifted slightly but said nothing. Strictly speaking the use of blood in magic was forbidden by the Ministry, but the Unspeakables were exempt from many of the usual rules. And if it was going to help them to get one step closer to ridding the world of Lord Voldemort once and for all, then who was she to stand in the way?

Croaker led Harry to each rune stone in turn and allowed three drops of Harry's blood to drip onto each rune. Each rune stone contained ten runes engraved upon it.

Once every rune on each rune stone had received enough blood, the rune stone in question would glow an eerie red colour for a moment before reverting back to normal.

Once all five rune stones had been made to glow in this manner, Croaker used his wand to heal the cut on Harry's palm.

One of the other Unspeakables approached, holding a tray upon which sat two small bottles of clear liquid, and a small white cloth that appeared to be made from the fur of a puffskein.

"Next," said Croaker "we will need to expose the scar to two of the purest substances known to exist, the tears of a unicorn and the tears of a phoenix. This should help reduce the hold the soul fragment has."

He took the cloth and wetted it with the unicorn tears. He then wiped the wet patch of the cloth in several small circles over the point on Harry's forehead when the scar resided.

Harry felt the area begin to tingle pleasantly, and the pain being emitted from the scar lessened even more than it had as a result of taking Sarah's potion.

Croaker turned the cloth in his hand and wetted another part of it with phoenix tears. He then performed the same actions as before, gently rubbing the tears into the area of the scar. Harry found the pain coming from the scar to be lessening still.

Croaker set the cloth back on the tray and the Unspeakable holding it stepped away and set the tray down on top of a small table which was standing in the corner of the room.

"Now then, Mr Potter," said Croaker "if you could please set yourself down in the middle of the pentagon on the floor…"

Harry walked over to the middle of the pentagon and sat down facing the group.

"Now lie back with your head pointed in the direction of the topmost point of the star," said Croaker "and then extend your arms and legs towards the other points."

Harry laid back and stretched himself out as asked "Like this?"

"Nearly," said Croaker, stepping forwards. He adjusted Harry's right leg a little, and then turned Harry's head ever so slightly before stepping back out of the pentagon.

"What exactly is going to happen?" asked Cyrus.

"The ritual is in two parts," replied Croaker "The first is to push Harry's conscious back into himself. In doing so we will allow the fragment of Voldemort to come forwards. Once that has happened we aim to extract that fragment from the body then, without an anchor, it will pass on into the afterlife. Then we will return Mr Potter to his normal state, if extracting Voldemort has not done so already by that point."

Everyone nodded in understanding

"Right," said Croaker "Mr Potter, all we need from you now is to lie there and relax. My colleagues will shortly begin chanting the necessary incantations whilst I will be using spells to monitor your situation. If we require you to act in any way, we will ask. Understand?"

"I understand," replied Harry, doing his level best to relax, something that was surprisingly difficult to do when you knew that seven other people were currently watching you with interest.

Harry tried to make his mind go blank, to ignore the chanting that began to fill the air from the three Unspeakables.

"_Liberte haec anima ab atrum labe. Tenebris custodia liberare animum istum in pace. Auferat mala liberabit de corpore sinit…"_

The voices continued to repeat those words, but soon they became nothing more than a dull drone to Harry.

Around him a golden glow began to emanate from each rune on each rune stone, glowing brighter until each rune stone began to shine like the sun. The light began to spread from each of the rune stones. Like a liquid it travelled along the lines carved into the floor, causing the shape of the pentagon and the star within it to shine brightly.

The light then spread inwards from the lines, filling the entire shape with colour.

The floor beneath Harry was now shining brightly, but he barely noticed. The chanting of the Unspeakables was barely audible to him now.

The world seemed to be getting further and further away from him. A darkness had started to come in at the edges of his vision. The darkness grew more and more, but the light never faded. It was more like it was retreating. Soon he was surrounded in darkness, and the light existed as two small dots standing side by side somewhere above him.

Harry thought that it was almost as if his conscious self had withdrawn and shrunken back, almost as if it had stepped away from the controls of his body, and those two small dots of light represented where his eyes were.

In actual fact, he was not too far wrong with that thought.

It was actually quite pleasant. He felt as though he was floating in nothingness, with no ache or pain to annoy him.

There was no sign at all of the orbs that represented his memories. But then, he was not in his mind. His mind was with him, having pulled back as well.

It was so relaxing here. And so peaceful as well. He felt as though nothing could harm him.

"_Hhhhaaaaarrrrryyyyyy."_

The voice came out of nowhere, and seemed to pierce through him like the bite of an icy wind.

It was there. Voldemort' soul fragment was there with him.

Harry turned around, just in time to see two evil red eyes coming right for him.

He felt himself get bowled over by the wicked thing. He seemed to tumble uncontrollably through the nothingness that surrounded him, and although he could not see them, his arms and legs flailed wildly. Or at least the parts of him that used to control his arms and legs did.

And somewhere above him he heard that wretched voice, almost joyous sounding as it hissed "_At last! At last this body is MINE!"_

Harry tried to regain control of himself. Voldemort was about to try and gain control of his body. He could not allow that to happen.

Back in the room, Croaker made a noise of frustration as he cast another spell.

"Something wrong?" asked Cyrus.

Croaker shook his head "I don't know. Mr Potter's consciousness has fallen back as we had hoped, but something's not right. I'm really not liking some of these readings."

"Should we stop the ritual then?" asked Madam Bones.

"Yes, I think-" began Croaker, but the words died in his throat.

In the middle of the star, Harry had sat up. Or at least, Harry's body had sat up. When he opened his eyes they were not the usual emerald green that was associated with the boy. Now they were the evilest shade of red. Something associated only with…

He threw his head back and laughed, and it was not Harry's laugh. This one was high and cold.

He spoke.

"Did you fools honestly believe that you could defeat me? I, Lord Voldemort who has explored more magics than even the likes of the Unspeakables could ever even dream of? I, who has ventured further along the path to true immortality that any other has ever dared?"

He laughed again before continuing "Your foolish ritual has failed. All you have managed to do is allow me to take full control of this body, control which I have coveted for nearly fourteen years!"

He raised a hand and suddenly the golden light created by the ritual seemed to shatter as if it were glass. It fragmented, breaking off into small shards that continued to break down into nothingness.

Everyone had their wands trained on him, but with a wave of his hand he emitted a pulse of magic that had everyone off of their feet and slammed them into the walls around the room before collapsing to the floor.

By the time any of them was able to regain their feet, he had gone from the room.

Harry had heard everything and been horrified. He had managed to regain control of himself and was now trying to locate Voldemort. He had to take full control of his body again before someone got seriously hurt, or worse. Whether piece of Voldemort's soul would be expelled from his body or just revert back to its previous state was another matter entirely, and not all that important as far as Harry was concerned. He was determined to regain control of his body, one way or another.

Croaker got to his feet and curse loudly "He broke through the barrier."

"The barrier?" asked Madam Bones.

"Yes, we included a barrier in the ritual that was meant to prevent this from happening. That was why the light shattered in the way it did when Voldemort attacked it. We must not have made it strong enough. Damnit!"

He got up and jabbed his wand into a small groove that was carved into the wall.

"Red Alert, Red Alert," he shouted, and his voice echoed throughout the Department of Mysteries "Exorcism subject has escaped. All Unspeakables on hand to capture. Subject is dangerous, use extreme caution. Capture only. Repeat, Capture only."

Throughout the department, every flame on every candle had turned from blue to red, and an intermittent siren started up.

"Now what?" asked Sarah.

"Now we capture him and restrain him," replied Croaker.

"And after that?" asked Madam Bones.

Croaker offered up no answer as he and the other three Unspeakables left the room.

Amelia, Cyrus and Sarah all drew their wands and followed on.

* * *

One Unspeakable was already down for the count. As his blood trickled slowly from the wound on his head, Voldemort, using Harry's body and now wielding the Unspeakable's wand was rapidly making his way along the corridor, back towards the door that would lead him to the circular room.

When the alarm sounded several doors began bursting open and the Unspeakables moved to gain control. A few killing curses saw them retreating with fear. Voldemort briefly wondered why none of those spells had made contact, but quickly put it down to a combination of his not having used magic for some time, a lack of familiarity as to controlling the body he was in, and a lack of compatibility with the wand he was holding.

It did not occur to him that Harry Potter's will still had some sway over the body.

A stunning spell whizzed by his ear. He spun around to see a crowd of people, consisting mostly of Unspeakables, but also the three fools who had attempted to help the Potter boy, charging towards him. There were too many to kill, but perhaps…

He raised the wand and shouted "_Bombarda_!"

A large chunk of the ceiling broke away and crashed to the corridor floor below, creating a blockade well in front of the group. Voldemort did not think on that, instead he turned and continued running. Had he stopped to think, he would have wondered by he brought the ceiling down well in front of the group, rather than directly on their heads. Again, the will of Harry Potter held the answer.

He pushed open the door at the end of the corridor and found himself in the circular room. It was empty.

He knew that he ought to make good his escape, but at the same time he knew that there was something here, within the Department of Mysteries that he desperately desired. Something which he was sure held the key, the explanation of exactly what went wrong on that fateful Halloween night nearly fourteen years previously…

His other self, his true self sought this thing as well. This was his chance to get it. He needed to know the truth. He needed the hall of prophecies.

* * *

One of the doors in the circular room burst open and the group entered, but there was no sign of Harry's body.

"Where's he gone?" asked Sarah.

"He could be anywhere by now," replied Croaker.

He turned to a few of the unspeakables that stood gathered behind him "Frobisher, Bagwell, take a team and scour the other levels of the Ministry. Amelia, perhaps you should go with them and alert the Aurors.

"Right," replied Madam Bones before turning and leaving, accompanied by a group of eight Unspeakables.

Two more doors had opened, and the Unspeakables that came through each confirmed that there was no trace of an escapee in any of their sub-departments.

Croaker quickly set about organising search teams. In that time another five groups had arrived, confirming that there was no sign of the escapee in any of their sub-departments.

* * *

Voldemort had not found the prophecy room right away, but the sound of running footsteps had forced him to duck through the door nearest to him. He loathed running instead of killing, but at the moment he was unsure how much he could stand to take in this new form, and now was not the time to try.

While the door had not led him directly to the hall of prophecies, it had been kind to him. Only three Unspeakables had been in the room when he had arrived. Not trusting himself to be able to aim the killing curse properly, he had instead opted for a wide area debilitation spell. The three Unspeakables were down and out before they could fire a curse at him.

He had sealed the door shut behind himself and then taken the opportunity to have a quick look around. Ignoring the bizarre bell jar which contained a rapidly aging and de-aging humming bird, and ignoring the innumerable clocks that decorated the room, he approached a large, glass-fronted cabinet inside of which were stand many hundreds of small hourglasses. He opened the doors and took one out. It had a thin golden chain attached to it.

He knew what this was. It was a time turner.

Just as he was thinking about how fortune had always favoured Lord Voldemort, the door leading to the circular room exploded inwards. The suddenness of it all, combined with his shaky at best control over the body he was in made Voldemort drop the time turner in surprise. It smashed apart at his feet, but there was no time to worry about that now.

Nor was there time to grab another. A large group of Unspeakables had entered the room and had opened fire upon him. Voldemort managed to get a shield up as he launched himself towards the only other door leading out of the room.

He scrambled through it and sealed it shut behind him.

He staggered around for a few steps and then realised where he was.

He had walked straight into the hall of prophecies.

Row upon row of towering shelves stretched off in every direction for further than his eye could see. Upon these shelves sat thousands upon thousands of small, dusty glass orbs.

They were the recordings of every prophecy ever made since the beginning of magic.

Now all he needed to do was to find the prophecy relating to himself and the boy whose body he currently possessed.

There was only one problem, there were countless orbs to check, and time was not currently on his side.

He raised his wand and incanted "Accio prophesy."

Nothing happened. Deciding to be more specific he incanted "Accio prophecy referring to Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter."

Still nothing happened. Apparently the easy way was not going to work.

The door behind him gave a loud groan, signalling that someone was trying to get through.

Quickly Voldemort disappeared deep into the aisles between the shelves.

Behind him the door gave way and the Unspeakables entered. All around the enormous hall other doors were opening too.

Harry was now back before his eyes, but could not regain control. They were like windows that were six feet away from him, and he could not get closer. He was managing to fight against Voldemort just enough to keep his spells from becoming deadly, but he was struggling to gain any more control than that.

There had to be something, anything that could be used to loosen Voldemort's hold upon the control of his body, but he had no idea what that could be.

Voldemort raced between the aisles, his eyes scanning the shelves, checking for any sign that might tell him which prophecy was the one he sought, and all the while he listened for the sound of anyone getting too close.

Three Unspeakables appeared at the end of the aisle. He shielded against their curses, and then knocked them all off their feet. Another rounded the corner and aimed his wand.

Voldemort fired the killing curse, but it went wide, though it was enough to convince the man to back down. Voldemort turned back to the shelf behind him, his red eyes scanning furiously for some sign of the prophecy he was looking for.

"Harry?"

He spun around and saw the woman who had tried so hard in recent days to be to Harry Potter what his mother had hoped she would be.

She had her wand raised, but showed no inclination to fire a spell.

"Harry, if you can hear me you have to fight him," she said in an almost pleading voice.

Voldemort sneered, something that just didn't work on Harry's face. He raised his stolen wand and incanted "_Avada Keda-NO!"_

The wand dropped from the hand and clattered to the floor. Harry's body staggered backwards as his hands came up hold his head.

For the briefest moment, Harry had been in control.

Sarah summoned the wand to her and she caught it before she took a step forwards, but Harry's head raised up to face her, and she saw the red eyes of Voldemort once again.

He raised his hand and with a display of wandless magic he blew apart the tower of shelves opposite him. Sarah sprang back out of the aisle and pressed herself against the wall. She watched in shock as the tower of shelves toppled backwards into the row behind. Then that row crashed into the next, and then that one crashed into the next, and the next and so on in a terrifying domino effect. So many glass orbs smashing and crashing to the ground caused a deafening noise that left a ringing in the ears. All the way along back to the main entry points Unspeakables came charging out of the aisles as more and more rows of towering shelves came crashing down.

In all the chaos Voldemort continued on. He knew that there was every chance that he had just destroyed the prophecy that he was looking for, along with all those others, but it was a risk the he had had to take. Potter's momentary reclaiming of control had frightened him. Coming down here had been a mistake. He needed to get out of here, now.

Soon he was locked in battle once again. He quickly obtained a cut on his right cheek, and his left arm was left all but useless by a numbing charm. But he had knocked out his opponents and stolen himself a new wand.

Doubling back on himself proved a useful way to go, as many of the Unspeakables were either injured or simply left stunned by the collapse of the shelf towers. He only had to engage a dozen of them in battle before he had found a door.

* * *

"What happened?" asked Cyrus, as they moved along back towards the doors, the ringing still in his ears.

"Voldemort tried strike me with a killing curse," replied Sarah "but Harry managed to break through just long enough to put a stop to it."

"He has been battling the soul fragment for years," said Croaker "even if only on a subconscious level. It makes sense that he can take back control like that."

"Is that the best we can hope for?" asked Cyrus "That Harry can take control of his body again?"

"There are other things we can try," said Croaker "But Harry doing it himself might be for the best."

* * *

Fortune it seemed did not always favour Lord Voldemort. The door he had run through had not brought him back to the time room. Instead he was in a room filled with large models of the planets, their moons and the stars.

There were two doors leading out of this room, other than the one he had just come through. After a moment's thought, he had decided on going through the one to his right.

But as he made for it, the door swung open to admit several Unspeakables, along with several Aurors and Madam Bones herself.

A quick spell saw the many moons of Jupiter providing a nice distraction for them, allowing Voldemort to dash towards the other exit.

He found himself in the circular room again. There were Unspeakables already there.

Quickly he shielded himself from their spells and backed towards another door, even as the Aurors began to spill out of the room that he himself had just left.

Another door opened and those from the hall of prophecy came through into the circular room as well. Voldemort backed through the door and ran.

The two Unspeakables were hurled against the walls, though not as hard as Voldemort would have liked.

He knew the reason for it.

"You'll not regain control of this body, Harry Potter," he said as he set off down the corridor he currently found himself in "I am too strong for the likes of you to overpower."

To his horror, Harry Potter replied using the body's own mouth.

"I kept you down for nearly fourteen years Tom. And I can do it again."

"You are a fool Harry Potter," replied Voldemort, and once again he was in control of the mouth "You are a fool who will lose everything. I shall use your body to destroy all that you hold dear, and you will be powerless to do anything other than watch."

"You can't kill them Tom," replied Harry "Or haven't you noticed that _**I**_ won't let you?"

At the other end of the corridor that he was currently running along, a group of unspeakables, numbering at least twenty if not more, came into view and began running towards him.

"They will catch us Tom," said Harry "You cannot run from them forever, and I will not allow you to kill them."

"They will not stop me," replied Voldemort "They are too worried about hurting you."

The door through which he had come now had an army swarming through it, and Voldemort knew that he was trapped between the two groups.

"They need not harm my body, Tom," replied Harry "Only bind it. And then you shall find yourself forced from it, and you will join your fellow fragment in hell. You know, the one that was bashed from your old diary by _**my**_ hand?"

Someone fired a disarming spell and the wand in the hand of Harry's body was torn from its grasp.

Voldemort found himself surrounded.

Desperately he took his last option and threw the body that he now only had a loose hold on towards the only door he could get to.

Several people raised their wands, but none fired.

The door swung open and he staggered almost drunkenly into the room.

And then he screamed.

For that room was the one room in the Department of Mysteries dedicated to studying the power of the very thing that Voldemort could not understand. The very thing that had vanquished him fourteen years previously.

Love.

Those outside stepped forwards to get a better look.

Harry's body stood with its back to them, emitting a scream in Voldemort's voice.

But them the scream stopping coming out of Harry's mouth. Instead it came from his scar, which burst open, emitting a black, tar-like ooze that quickly dissolved into a black mist that continued to scream with Voldemort's voice even as it faded into nothingness.

Harry's body went limp and slumped backwards.

Sarah Abbott came forwards and caught him.

Before he lost consciousness, Harry managed to say in a very weak voice three small words.

"I did it."

* * *

**A/N: Sometimes fate does not favour Lord Voldemort. Sometimes Harry Potter is one lucky bugger!**

**So how was that? Hopefully the events of this chapter make up for the lack of proper action so far, and the time between this update and the last. Don't worry about the Aurors, all shall be explained.**

**Oh, and in case you are wondering, the incantations for the ritual: "**_**Liberte haec anima ab atrum labe. Tenebris custodia liberare animum istum in pace. Auferat mala liberabit de corpore sinit."**_ **means "Free this soul from its dark taint. Release the hold of darkness and allow this mind to be at peace. Remove evil from this body and allow him to be free"**

**Well, that's what I put into Google Translate, anyway.**


	9. The Minister Makes His Move

**Sorry this has taken so long – reasons for this, if you are interested, are noted at the end.**

**Previously I have tried very hard to keep this story from Harry's point of view as much as possible, but I felt that this chapter was a good place to look into the other three factions and how they are coping with current events.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 9: The Minister Makes his Move

It was a while before Harry Potter woke up following his ordeal. Without opening his eyes, he tried to get his bearings, but he could not tell where he was. The smell and the general feel of the air about him suggested that he was in a medical facility, but it certainly was not the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts Castle. There was hardly any noise to be heard, just a few people breathing. Ignoring the sounds of his of breaths, Harry guessed that there were two other people in the room, but who they were he could not tell.

One thing he knew for certain however was that he ached all over. Every muscle in his body seemed to be throbbing slightly in pain.

Deciding to discover just where he was, Harry opened his eyes.

"Mr Potter," said a man's voice as his eyes opened "Welcome back to the land of the living."

Harry blinked several times before making to sit up. Before he could shift too much, however, a hand was placed onto his chest and he was gently pushed back down onto the pillows.

"Easy there Harry," said Sarah Abbott, the one to whom the hand belonged. She raised a small crystalline goblet to his mouth and instructed "Drink this."

Without question Harry drank the potion contained within the goblet. It tasted awful, but almost immediately he felt the dull ache in his muscles ease off.

"How are you feeling?" asked Sarah.

"Alright," replied Harry "But what happened? Where am I?"

"You don't remember?"

Harry shook his head, no.

"You are in one of the healing rooms of the Department of Mysteries, Mr Potter," said the man's voice again. Harry looked over to see that it was the Unspeakable, Algernon Croaker.

That kicked Harry's mind into gear, and he asked eagerly "The exorcism, did it work? Is Voldemort's soul fragment gone from my body?"

"No and yes," replied Croaker.

"I don't understand," said Harry "How can that piece of Voldemort's soul be gone if the exorcism didn't work?"

"During the process of the exorcism the soul fragment managed to take control of your body, Mr Potter," said Croaker "Using its knowledge and your power it was able to break free of the magical barriers we had in place. We were then led on a merry chase throughout the Department of Mysteries until you yourself were able to regain control of your body. In doing so you forcefully ejected the soul fragment from your body and it was destroyed."

Harry shuddered "Voldemort had control over my body? How many people were killed?"

"Fortunately for us, no one died," replied Croaker "With you in at least partial control, any killing curse fired simply missed completely. Your courage and strength thwarted him that much right from the beginning. We had quite a few injuries when half of the Hall of Prophecies was brought crashing down on all our heads, and some of those injured were in a bad way, but nearly everyone has recovered. One or two will require a few more days' bed rest, but otherwise they're all fine. In fact the only person in the past twelve hours that we have had to worry about is you."

"Me?" asked Harry, who was trying to get his head around the fact that he had nearly killed so many people- '_No'_ he told himself '_Voldemort nearly killed them. I was doing my best to hold him off… I was the reason he hit no one with the killing curse…_' He needed to keep on telling himself that, as the only other option would lead to a dark and spirally path of depression.

"The effort involved in fighting such a strong opponent for so long left you magically exhausted," explained Croaker "To be honest we are surprised that you have recovered so quickly. Usually it takes around a week to recover from the level of exhaustion you were suffering from."

"So how long have I been unconscious?" asked Harry.

"A little over forty eight hours," answered Sarah "It's Sunday evening."

Harry nodded thoughtfully before asking "So how did I get rid of the soul fragment? You said that I forced it out of my body, but how…?"

"It was a combination of your determination to not allow him to hurt anyone, and the added benefits of a room here in the Department of Mysteries that you managed to stumble into."

"What room is that?" asked Harry.

"It is a room dedicated to studying a magic that is older than any other," replied Croaker "A magic that is also perhaps the least understood, especially by the cruel and the wicked."

"And what is that magic?"

"Love" said Croaker "Through some strange means that we do not even begin understand, your entering that room, with so much ambient love-based magic in its atmosphere somehow weakened the soul fragment, and it began to scream as if in pain, allowing you to force it out."

Although that seemed vague, Harry thought he understood "So the evil creation of Voldemort could not survive contact with magic that was so pure… and innocent."

Croaker gave a single nod of his head in answer.

"Why don't I remember any of what happened?" asked Harry.

"It is to be expected," said Croaker "Magical exhaustion on the scale that you attained is usually accompanied by temporary memory loss, especially with the trauma of your situation. Now, I've kept your attention long enough. Get some rest."

And with that he left the room.

Harry remained quiet for a few long moments before turning his head towards Sarah and asking "So, what else have I missed?"

In answer, Sarah picked up a copy of that morning's Sunday Prophet and handed it to Harry.

The front page was dominated by a picture of Cornelius Fudge, standing alongside Dolores Umbridge, Madam Bones and number of others, all of whom Harry recognised from his trial before the Wizengamot.

Above this picture was the headline "Wizengamot Seeks Hogwarts Reform."

The article below read;

_In a surprise move last night, the Wizengamot cast a majority vote in favour of instigating a reform to education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. So far the only known subject provided by the school's curriculum to be targeted is History of Magic._

_In a press release immediately after the Wizengamot session concluded, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge stated "We have been concerned about the standards of education received by our children at Hogwarts for quite some time now. Our initial major concern was with Defence Against the Dark Arts, a subject which has been taught by a new teacher every year for quite some time, leading to disjointed learning for the students. However a far more serious threat to the quality of education at Hogwarts has been brought to the forefront of our concerns. History of Magic is regarded as a dull lesson by almost every student within the school, and it is not helped in the slightest that the subject is being taught by a ghost. Further investigations proved that since his death in the early eighteenth century, he has not kept up with increasing standards. Nor do the more recent events of our history make it into his lessons."_

_Wizengamot Elder and Governor of the Wizarding Examinations Authority Griselda Marchbanks had this to say – "I've always liked and respected Albus Dumbledore, the current Headmaster of Hogwarts, but one thing that we have always disagreed on is the teaching of History of Magic. Albus likes to insist that Professor Binns is as capable a teacher as anyone, but the examination results of the past few centuries tell a completely different story. No one bothers to take the subject for their N.E.W.T level examinations, instead electing to drop what they perceive as a tediously dull subject altogether."_

_When asked how the Ministry planned to rectify this travesty, Minister Fudge replied "Well to start with we voted in favour of casting a ban on ghosts holding teaching positions. Now that is not to say that a ghost cannot pass on knowledge or advice if it so chooses, but they can no longer be a professor at the school. Of course with it having been several centuries since anyone took a higher level qualification in the study of History of Magic, our choices for a new professor were extremely limited. In the end we elected to send in Dolores Umbridge, the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, to act as Professor and to get a full assessment of the situation we now find ourselves in."_

_Lucius Malfoy, a close friend and confidant of the Minister for Magic had this to say – "It pleases me to no end to see that the Ministry is finally stepping in to take control of the seriously falling standards within Hogwarts School. Concerns about the running of the school have been voiced for years, but Albus Dumbledore's supporters' have always managed to block all attempts to make some serious headway with reforming the running of the school. This is the first positive step, of what I hope will be many, taken by the Wizengamot to address the quality of education provided by Hogwarts."_

_However, not all parties appeared pleased with the outcome of the vote. Elphias Dodge, a long-time supporter of Albus Dumbledore, commented "Quite frankly it is an absolute disgrace. Albus Dumbledore has always run a tight and secure ship at Hogwarts and it will only be after the Ministry interferes that trouble will begin."_

_To read more on this story, see pages two, three, four, five, six and seven._

_To read about Elphias Dodge's alleged dealing with rogue goblins, see page eight._

"Holy crap," exclaimed Harry, setting the paper down "Fudge got her into Hogwarts."

Sarah nodded and said "They circumvented Dumbledore completely. When they tried with the Defence Against the Dark Arts post they were just trying to slip someone into Hogwarts. Now that they have put someone in there to investigate the state of things, Dumbledore really has little to no wriggle room. He might be powerful, but even he cannot block a Ministerial investigation."

"I thought that Fudge was going to wait until just before the start of term to make this particular move," said Harry.

"That was the original idea," acknowledged Sarah "But your arrival at the Ministry on Friday did not go entirely unnoticed. The glamour charms did work, but apparently someone thought that the unknown young man being escorted through the building by the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement warranted further investigation. Dumbledore spent all of that Friday sniffing around the Ministry, calling upon every one of his contacts in each department, as well as a few other people, in an attempt to discover who you were. Madam Bones had a word with the Minister and they agreed that Dumbledore's attention needed diverting, so they called a Wizengamot session for last night, keeping Dumbledore out of the loop. By going after Binns Fudge was able to tackle a weak point, with even some of the staunchest Dumbledore supporters having to concede that something had to be done. There were only a handful of cases like old Elphias Doge's."

"So it's going ahead then," said Harry "the whole plan?"

Sarah gave a nod in reply before saying "You have meeting with the Minister to attend on Tuesday afternoon, so that everything can be finalised."

Harry nodded, fully expecting that to be when the Minister would ask him to be the student who assisted Dolores Umbridge in her Hogwarts mission. He still felt a little unsure about taking up such a role, but it had been he who had played a large part in creating this situation, and while he no longer had any doubts about Hogwarts needing a severe inspection, he knew that an overzealous Ministry bureaucrat like Dolores Umbridge was likely to do more harm than good. The students of Hogwarts, no matter how Harry felt about many of them, would need protecting, and if it fell to Harry to do so, then he would. He just needed to do it in a way that ensured that once Fudge and Umbridge came crashing down (as they would when the truth about Voldemort's return was finally revealed for all to see) that he, Harry, would not be dragged down with them.

He also did not entirely know what he wanted to ultimately happen to Dumbledore. He was sure that the man would be very useful in the inevitable war against Voldemort and his wicked forces, but at the same time Harry had had his eyes opened to the real man behind the grandfatherly mask, and people needed to stop believing that all of their problems could be solved by that one man. It was detrimental to society. He had never thought about it before recent events, but there very much as an attitude at school, especially amongst the Gryffindors, that anyone who did not believe that the sun rose in the sky because Dumbledore willed it to was obviously a dark wizard or witch of the highest order.

That attitude in the least had to go.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was beyond furious. In fact, he could not remember the last time he had been this angry.

How dare that bumbling buffoon Cornelius Fudge, the _supposed_ Minister for Magic, attempt to interfere with _his_ running of _his_ school?

What hurt worst was the fact that there was nothing that Dumbledore could do to stop it. The Wizengamot had voted, with the vast majority voting in favour of the action.

There were, of course, some members that Dumbledore expected this kind of thing from, for they and their families had long sought to supplant him. But that the likes of Griselda Marchbanks had voted in favour of this move was a shock. He counted such people as friends, and their not trusting him to run his school in a suitable manner was as unexpected as it was unacceptable.

This could easily be the start of a long and slippery slope, as anyone with an above average level of brain power would be able to turn this to their advantage. With his running of Hogwarts being called into question, the public would begin to doubt him and others within the ranks of the Wizengamot would gain the courage to make further attempts to go against his will.

This was exactly what he had hoped to avoid when he had retracted his statements about the return of Lord Voldemort. The earlier attempt to force Dolores Umbridge onto the staff through that educational decree had been a nuisance, sure, but had thankfully been avoided by simply filling the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor before the new school year began. This time there was nothing that Albus Dumbledore could do to prevent that woman coming to Hogwarts, and he knew it.

If he attempted to block her placement in the castle, then the Ministry would accuse him of refusing to co-operate with their review of the History of Magic class, and that would only cause the public to doubt Dumbledore even more.

Obviously the Daily Prophet would then ask the key question of "what did he have to hide?"

Too much, was the answer to that. Dumbledore simply could not afford to have the Ministry snooping around Hogwarts castle, reviewing the staff. In fact, the four members of staff that they were most likely to want to get rid of (and in one case already had) were also key pawns in his on-going chess game, which featured the whole of wizarding Britain as the board.

Cuthbert Binns had been essential in keeping the students, particularly the Muggleborns, ignorant about the truths of their world. By keeping the focus of the History of Magic lessons on Goblin Wars, the Muggleborns were left ignorant of the fact that the pureblood run society was stacked heavily against them. Most would struggle to find work after their school years, and inevitably those who did not get stuck in menial positions at the Ministry, or were not fortunate enough to land an apprenticeship with a more open-minded individual (of which the wizarding world contained few) would inevitably end up returning to their roots in the Muggle world, moving in with their parents and working in low-paying jobs in order to put themselves through adult classes.

Those Muggleborns leaving the wizarding world after their schooling did not worry Dumbledore – they had served their purpose and were free to leave. The thing was, Hogwarts School could not be run without Muggleborns. No Pureblood ever liked to hear this, but it was the truth. Hogwarts needed Muggleborns because Hogwarts was not funded by the Ministry. It relied heavily, almost solely, upon admission fees to survive and, of course, Purebloods were not overly fond of parting with their money, especially as for most of them their family name along could get them a well-paying job, whether they were qualified to do it or not. Many Purebloods sent their children to Hogwarts in order for them to "network and connect" with the education being a secondary desire.

Charge the Purebloods too much and they would leave. Therefore Muggleborns paid around three times as much in tuition fees, as it was the only way to keep the school financially viable. If those Muggleborns learned the whole truth about the magical world before their time at Hogwarts was over with, then the mass exodus that was sure to follow would cripple the school's finances and force it to be closed.

Binns was needed in order to keep them ignorant until after their schooling was done.

Sybil Trelawney was also needed in the castle. Not for keeping people ignorant, but for her own safety, and to ensure that Dumbledore maintained the upper-hand against Voldemort.

Before that fateful Halloween night when Harry Potter received his famous scar, Trelawney had made a prophecy to Dumbledore, one that linked Harry Potter to Lord Voldemort, the latter of whom had heard only part of it and reacted by attacking the Potter family. After the events of that Halloween night, Voldemort was sure to be looking to hear the entire thing, and keeping Sybil Trelawney secure inside Hogwarts Castle was best for everyone, even if the quality of Divination classes had to suffer for it.

Severus Snape made for a very poor teacher and, despite all evidence to the contrary, Albus Dumbledore was well aware of that fact. The man was spiteful, ill tempered, biased and had an extremely short fuse, all bad qualities for a teacher to possess. Yes, he was a genius when it came to making potions, but he simply lacked the temperament to pass that knowledge on to others, particularly young students. The man had an attitude of "I already know this, therefore everyone else should as well, and if you don't then you are just a dunderhead and it's not my problem to deal with you."

Nevertheless, Severus Snape was an essential person to have at Hogwarts. As Dumbledore's spy within the ranks of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, the man had to be seen as being close to Dumbledore. Having Snape at Hogwarts ensured that illusions were maintained, and allowing the man to be ruthlessly biased in favour of the Slytherins and against everyone else, especially the Gryffindors, made sure that the offspring of the other Death Eaters sent home nothing but praise for the man. And what did teaching a generation of students to correctly brew potions matter when compared to getting all the information he could on Voldemort's activities?

Rubeus Hagrid was another example to that mould, but in a different shape. To give him his due, the half-giant was very knowledgeable about the various magical creatures found across the globe, especially those of which that were found in the forest, lake and mountains that surrounded Hogwarts. But the man did not have the right temperament to pass that information on. This was not out of a cruel streak like Snape, but rather a combination of his own misconceptions and the relative ease with which he could become flustered. The man had a fixation on large and dangerous beasts and assumed that everyone else felt the same way. And he led students such as Draco Malfoy get under his skin far too easily.

Despite this, Hagrid was still essential to Dumbledore's overall schemes. First of all the man represented a kind-of beacon of hope, although most might not recognise it. With a half-giant occupying a prominent role at the school, people would be led to believe that it was indeed possible to overcome odds that are heavily stacked against you in order to become someone important. That illusion went hand-in-hand with the reasons for Binns' boring lessons, making Muggleborns believe that Wizarding society is not as biased as other evidence points out.

The second reason for Hagrid's importance was that he was one of Dumbledore's "yes" people, much like McGonagall. Hagrid was one of the more extreme examples of the kind of people who thought that the sun rose in the sky because Dumbledore wanted it to, and therein laid his main use. Dumbledore had ensured that Harry Potter befriended Hagrid very early on, and with the half giant going around telling anyone who would listen what a great man Albus Dumbledore was, Harry Potter was sure to develop a similar mind set.

Especially when coupled with his friendship with the Weasley family, another example of strong fans of Dumbledore.

On the subject of Harry Potter, that was where Dumbledore's other chief concerns lay. Following his trial at the Ministry on the twelfth of August, the boy seemed to have simply disappeared, and his continued absence was greatly troubling to Albus Dumbledore.

He had called upon many of his contacts within the Ministry, but he had received nothing in return but for a couple of vague hints. From what he could gather, the trial before the Wizengamot had come to a halt and Harry had left the courtroom to attend a private meeting with Minister Fudge and Madam Bones in the Minister's office. Where he went after that was unknown. What was known was that the trial had been completely called off, with Harry Potter being acquitted of all charges.

So Harry had not been expelled from Hogwarts, he had not been placed into Azkaban prison, and he had not returned to the house of his relatives.

It was infuriating that the only two people who likely knew for sure, Minister Fudge and Madam Bones, were also currently the last two people on earth who would disclose that information to him.

The only saving grace available was that with the involvement of Madam Bones, Fudge was not likely to have done something stupid like send Harry to live with the Malfoy family.

Albus Dumbledore had a sinking feeling that Harry Potter was now in the care of Madam Bones, and with each hour that passed that feeling only got worse.

While she was most assuredly a light-sided witch, Amelia Bones was not one of Dumbledore's staunch supporters and was one of few who were likely to bring him to task when she felt he was acting in an inappropriate fashion.

And if she were to ask the right questions, there was a lot of things she could discover from Harry Potter that Dumbledore really did not want her knowing.

And if she ever got even the slightest hint about those potions in Harry's system…

Dumbledore shuddered. He did not like to think what would happen then. He was sure that he could use his influence to survive the fallout, but there would then be too many questions asked of certain others, and of Severus Snape and Poppy Pomfrey in particular.

It was infuriating that his spy at the trial, Nymphadora Tonks had gotten caught before completing her mission. He had been quite surprised that Madam Bones had come down on her as hard as to take away her Auror badge and boot her out of the Ministry.

But he supposed that he ought to have been thankful, as even though it caused the disappearance of Harry Potter, it allowed him to hire the young metamorphmagus to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor and thus prevent a Ministry spy entering Hogwarts.

Well, prevented it until Fudge pulled this latest stunt.

Sometimes Dumbledore felt like the entire world was against the greater good.

* * *

Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic, was sitting in his study at home having a quiet celebratory drink.

And why shouldn't he? He was delighted.

After his first attempt had failed, he had now successfully secured Madam Umbridge a place within Hogwarts Castle. Once there she could not only revolutionise the teaching of History of Magic, but also assess the situation with the rest of the school, and also keep an eye on Dumbledore, collecting evidence for when they eventually brought him to task for seeking to overthrow the Ministry.

To be honest though, that was not why he was celebrating, as that decision had been passed by the Wizengamot yesterday, and he had already celebrated that idea.

No, what he was celebrating today was the rather brilliant idea that had come to him just a short while ago. With Dolores Umbridge securing a position within the castle, the Minister had turned his attention to one to the ideas voiced by young Harry Potter.

In their meeting the boy had suggested that the Ministry appoint a student to assist Madam Umbridge in her work. A kind of prefect who worked with her to make the school a better place.

Fudge had spent some time pondering just which student he ought to put into that role. For a brief time he had considered contacting his old friend Lucius Malfoy and asking if his son would like to take on the role. However he had heard through the grapevine that Lucius had been bragging about young Draco receiving his prefect's badge. That meant that the boy had been nominated by his head of house and approved by Dumbledore.

Draco Malfoy therefore was no longer an appropriate candidate.

The puzzle of just who to choose had then troubled Fudge for a short while longer. Then, quite by chance he had passed by Arthur Weasley talking to Perkins and overheard the balding red-head tell the other man that his youngest son Ronald had been made a prefect.

A quick check had shown that Ronald Weasley was a classmate of Harry Potter's, being in the same year and the same house.

And with that discovery Fudge had discovered the perfect candidate for his plans for Hogwarts. For Harry Potter, the very person who had suggested the idea in the first place, had not been made a prefect by Dumbledore.

It made perfect sense: the boy was well known, likeable, and had a good amount of respect for the Ministry.

Yes Fudge could see it now. He would have his people in Hogwarts, and have the endorsement of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived to support him in his endeavours.

It was fool proof.

* * *

Peter Pettigrew was a nervous man at the best of times. His current situation only made this worse.

His master, Lord Voldemort, had collapsed more than two days ago, and had shown no signs of waking up ever since.

Peter was currently tasked with waiting by Voldemort's bedside, watching and waiting for any sign that his master might be beginning to come around. His task would be to alert the healers immediately.

But by Lord Voldemort's bedside was a bad place to be. It left Peter Pettigrew vulnerable.

When he eventually awoke, Lord Voldemort was very likely to want to know what had happened, and as yet no one knew the answer. And not having the answer to something that Lord Voldemort wanted to know was a sure fire way to get yourself hit by the cruciatus curse.

And given a choice between a healer and Peter Pettigrew, the rat animagus knew exactly who the Dark Lord would aim for.

All things considered, today was not a good day to be Peter Pettigrew.

And that ghastly snake curled up in the opposite corner or the room was doing nothing to improve matters.

* * *

**A/N: Well there you go, I hope that you enjoyed that.**

**Again, sorry for the wait, but I do have a valid explanation. As regular readers of my author's notes may remember, during the writing of chapters five and seven, I had trouble with focusing on writing – I was not in the right mood and could not get there either. Between the last chapter and this one, I was struck with a different problem, one from the other end of the scale. Creative juices were most certainly flowing, but unfortunately they would not be focused upon the continuation of this story, or any of my other on-going projects. Instead I was hit with an idea for another story, ideas for which just kept on coming, and as they came I wrote them down before I could forget them. It does not yet flow coherently, and instead exists as a series of disjoined notes, bullet points and paragraphs that will need putting together at a later date. Although I now have the notes, I refuse to even contemplate beginning to upload it until such a time as my already on going stories are reduced in number, as I currently have two on-going Harry Potter stories (this one and Jack O'Lantern, which I really need to get back to) one on-going Pokémon story (the anime rewrite) one Harry Potter story on hiatus (Court of Magical Brethren) and one Pokémon story on hiatus (Johto Adventure, which may end up being taken down altogether). Not only that but there is also a possibility of adding more to the "Time Magic" story, and was as more related material to be added to "Logic."**

**Quite enough for me to be getting on with.**

**The new story will see the light of day (it is too good not to) but not yet.**

**Thankfully (at least as far as this story goes) the flow of ideas for that story has subsided for now, and I can continue with this one and others.**


	10. Contract of Employment

**Here's the next chapter of this little story. I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 10: The Contract of Employment

There was a knock at the door of his office, interrupting his studying of the immensely dull paperwork before him. Thankful for the excuse to turn his attention to something else for a bit, the Minister for Magic called out "Come in."

The door opened and a woman came in. She was short, with a wide face and very little in the way of a neck.

She was wearing her usual pink cardigan, and as was normal she had a small black bow in her hair.

"Ah, Dolores," exclaimed Fudge "I trust you are all set to go for our meeting with young Harry Potter this afternoon?"

"Indeed I am, Minister," Dolores Umbridge replied in her simpering, girlish voice "However, I once again find it necessary to ask why you feel that this needs to happen. Do you really trust my abilities so little that you would charge a student who has yet to take his O.W.L. examinations with overseeing me in my duties?"

Cornelius shook his head and replied "My dear Dolores, that is not what is happening at all. As I have already told you several times before now, I have every confidence in your abilities to bring order back to the running of Hogwarts School. Young Mr Potter is going to be acting in a different role to you. In some ways he will be your assistant, helping out with certain tasks that you find you require assistance in. But he will also act as a barrier between you and the students.

"The purpose of this plan, as I have already told up, is to restore order to the school and, naturally, complaints of the students must be listened to and considered as a part of that– it is the place where they are educated and their home for the majority of the year, after all. With your teaching post and your job sorting out the staff and curriculum you will be busy enough without having to endure being disturbed at all hours by any student who has a minor complaint. Mr Potter will be the one to listen to their complaints and anything inconsequential he will ignore, anything that he can handle himself he will and anything that you will need to know about he will inform you of."

Dolores nodded her head. The Minister could tell that she wasn't happy about it, but was accepting of it. However she continued to talk.

"But why Harry Potter, of all people?" she asked "Just a few short weeks ago the Ministry of Magic was going out of its way to discredit the boy, and now you are offering such an important role to him."

"It turns out that we were wrong about young Mr Potter, Dolores. The boy was tricked by Dumbledore into taking part in a plan that would have overthrown the Ministry had it succeeded. When the plan failed, Dumbledore abandoned it but left Harry to take the blame for it. Mr Potter realised this and has since apologised. He whole heartedly approves of the Ministry's new stance on Hogwarts, and wishes to support our efforts in any way that he can."

"But why use him for this?" asked Umbridge "Surely there are better candidates? Why not Lucius Malfoy's son? He's respectable lad from a respectable family."

Fudge shook his head and replied "I am afraid, Dolores, that it is not that simple. Yes my first thought was to enlist young Draco Malfoy for the role, but since then I have learnt that the boy was given the role of prefect for his house and year group."

"And why should that stop him being a viable candidate for the role?" questioned Umbridge.

"Because a candidate for the position of prefect is nominated by his or her head of house and is then either approved or rejected by the Headmaster. And the last person we want in this vitally important role is someone with Dumbledore's approval as that casts doubt on our ability to rely on them."

Seeing that his senior undersecretary still did not look happy, the Minister continued "Look at it this way, Dolores. We will have someone on our side who is already not happy with Albus Dumbledore, and who is not in his debt. Harry Potter will be able to look at things in a way that most students will not. He no longer has the rose tinted vision of Dumbledore that the old man likes to ensure that everyone has."

And then he added "And on top of all that, the Ministry's actions will get the endorsement of the Boy Who Lived. It is a win-win situation for use, Dolores."

Though still frowning, the woman nodded her head and said "Very well. I shall trust that you know what you are doing, Minister."

She got up to leave. At the door she turned and asked "Will the boy be getting paid for his role, Minister?"

Fudge looked momentarily surprised by the question before replying "Of course. The amount will be arranged between myself and Mr Potter after the main meeting this afternoon."

* * *

Harry was starting to get used to this. Once again he was being escorted through the Ministry by Madam Bones whilst under a disguise provided by a complex series of glamour charms, placed upon him by Madam Bones and Sarah Abbott.

On Sunday he had spent what little of the day that had remained after he had woken up resting in the bed provided to him by the Unspeakables in the Healing Room of the Department of Mysteries. Then, during the early hours of Monday morning the healer tending to him gave him the all clear to leave, and he was escorted from the Ministry building by Sarah Abbott before the majority of the employees began turning up. He had still been under glamour charms then as well however, even with there only being a few night duty staff knocking about the building at that time.

Shortly before he had left, however, Unspeakable Croaker had spoken with him once more, and informed him of a surprising titbit of information. Amongst the many prophecies that had been destroyed through his Voldemort induces rampage through the Department of Mysteries, there had been one that may or may not have connected Harry himself to Lord Voldemort.

Harry had been surprised to learn this at first, but with it destroyed, and no written record of it anywhere, he quickly came to see that there was no real reason to worry about it. It seemed that Voldemort did not know of the contents of this prophecy either, and Croaker had admitted that with neither party involved ever knowing the contents of the prophecy, it was highly unlikely at it would ever come true, as prophecies more often than not were self-fulfilling, meaning that knowing the prophecy usually meant that the one it applied to would follow it until the terms stated came to completion, even though they did not have to. A prophecy was a possibility, not an obligation, after all.

Harry had spent most of Monday following the orders of the healer by getting plenty of rest. He had talked to Susan during that time. She was very relieved to learn that the piece of Voldemort's soul that was lodged within his scar was gone.

_-Flashback-_

"_Do you feel any different now that it has gone?" she asked him._

_Harry pondered her question for a few moments before responding "I don't know. My thoughts seem a little clearer, if that makes any sense. And there used to be a kind of niggling sensation in my mind, but that has gone now. As to anything else, I couldn't really say. I don't feel any different physically. And I haven't been able to practice any magic yet, so I don't know if there has been any change there. I don't really feel any more powerful than I was."_

_Susan nodded, but replied "I expect you mind find a change. After all, your magic had been fighting that thing for a very long time."_

"_Yeah, maybe." replied Harry, thoughtfully "Either way, I'm just glad the wretched thing is gone. Ever since I was told what it was I felt dirty. Now that it's gone I feel clean."_

_-End Flashback-_

Standing in the Ministry lift, Harry frowned slightly as he thought of the topic their conversation had eventually come to. They had been discussing the old families again, and during the discussions of wealth, Susan had grown concerned over something that she had considered a grievous error.

_-Flashback-_

"_What do you mean you don't get account statements from Gringotts?" asked Susan._

_Harry shrugged and replied "It's probably because I'm still underage or something."_

_Susan shook her head and said "Everyone who has an account at Gringotts should get regular statements informing you of the current status of your account. Even if you are under age. Okay, maybe you are not currently entitled to get statements for the entire Potter family fortune, but you do have a trust account don't you? Something set aside by your parents for your school years. Tuition fees, books, clothes and the like?"_

_When Harry gave a nod in reply she carried on "Then you should get statements for that. Something to let you know that your tuition has been paid in the correct amount, something to tell you how much you have left in the vault, something that informs you if anything is added to your trust vault from the family vaults. I get updates once a month regarding the money that my parents left for me in a trust fund."_

_She shook her head again and continued "I don't like this Harry. This is information that you really should be getting. Justin from my house at school gets monthly statements as well, and that's just for the few hundred pounds his parents converted to wizarding money and set aside for his future. If your trust fund is covering your tuition fees then it must have more money in it than Justin's, and yet you're not getting those statements while he is. I think we need to inform Aunty of this. Something is really wrong here."_

_-End Flashback-_

Harry had not been sure just how to bring up such a problem as that with Madam Bones, but at dinner that night Susan had broached the topic of him having a bit of an issue, before giving him a pointed look that informed him that he should provide a full explanation.

Harry told Madam Bones everything he could about his bank statements, or rather their mysterious absence, and the Head of the DMLE had liked this information even less than Susan had. Their half-eaten dinners were forgotten as she grabbed his arm and led him from the dining table and to a desk in her study where she had him write out a letter to Gringotts bank.

Hopefully this was just some massive oversight on the part of the Goblins of Gringotts. However, given how ignorant Harry had been left about his family, and the potions that Sarah Abbott had found in his system during her scans, Madam Bones smelled a conspiracy.

Harry was brought out of his reminiscing by the nasally female voice announcing "Level One. Minister for Magic and Support Staff."

Harry and Madam Bones both stepped out of the lift and made their way along the corridor to the Minister's office. Once inside, Harry was finally officially introduced to his soon to be co-worker.

"Harry Potter," said the Minister after thoroughly shaking his hand in greeting "this is Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, and future Professor of History of Magic and High Inquisitor at Hogwarts School." he gestured towards the flabby faced woman for Harry's benefit, not that he needed her pointed out to him as that hideous cardigan made her impossible to miss.

Fudge turned to the woman and said "Dolores, this is Harry Potter, who has been gracious enough to offer to assist us in our efforts at Hogwarts."

"A pleasure, Mr Potter." said Madam Umbridge, through a smile that failed to reach her cold, dark eyes. She held out a hand, the stubby fingers of which were covered in old and rather gaudy rings.

Swallowing forcefully against the bile that was trying to rise in his throat, Harry reached out and shook her hand before replying "The pleasure is mine."

He was going to have to ask Sarah for a bowl of disinfectant potion to bathe his hand in later, followed by a full scan for possible contamination.

The Minister and Madam Bones quickly exchanged a few pleasantries, which was followed by a very terse exchange of greeting between the two women in the room. Clearly Amelia Bones had no love for Dolores Umbridge, and it was just as clear that the feeling was mutual.

"Right then," said Fudge "down to business."

Harry wondered if perhaps the Minister sensed the tension in the air between the two women and was wisely changing the topic from that of greeting to why they were there. Or perhaps he was giving the man too much credit.

Either way, Harry snatched at the offered change with both hands and said "While I will agree with you Minister in saying that I will gladly assist the Ministry in any way I can as they make necessary reforms at Hogwarts, I do not see what I, specifically, could do."

There was no sense beating around the bush. Harry knew what the Minister wanted to ask of him, and he knew what his answer was going to be, so they might as well get straight to it.

"Well," began Fudge "I imagine that you recall our last meeting, in which you suggested that we appoint a student to assist Madam Umbridge in her work as well as act like a problem solver for other students."

Harry pretended to think for a short moment before giving a nod of his head and confirming "Yes, I do remember suggesting something like that, now that you mention it."

"Well we were hoping," the Minister continued "that you would be the one to accept this post."

He gave a pointed look to Umbridge as he said the word "we."

Harry feigned a look of surprise and asked "Me, Minister? Why me?"

"To put it simply, you are the best candidate that we could think of," replied the Minister "Every time I have spoken with you, you have shown yourself to be a very respectable individual who takes matters seriously."

Harry suspected that his status as "The-Boy-Who-Lived" played much more of a part in this decision that anything else, but wisely chose to not point that out.

Instead he feigned flattery and said "Why, I am honoured, Minister, that one of a station such as yours should think so highly of me."

The Minister and his Undersecretary both missed it, but that comment earned Harry a look from Madam Bones, one that said something that Harry privately agreed with. He was laying it on just a bit too thick.

But it was working, because Fudge commented "It is the truth, Mr Potter. And any other would be foolish to not see it."

"Thank you," said Harry "I must admit to being tempted by your offer, but I suppose it would be wise to enquire as to what my duties will entail, exactly."

"I'm glad you asked, Mr Potter." said the Minster "It would be prudent, however, to inform you first of the role which Madam Umbridge will be taking."

He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a role of parchment, which he promptly unfurled and began going through it.

"Now, Madam Umbridge's primary reason for being stationed at Hogwarts School is to fill the post of Professor of History of Magic. In this capacity she will assess what needs to be done to bring the course up to speed as it has fallen dramatically behind international standards. She will advise the Ministry, particularly the wizarding examinations authority as well as myself, as to what needs to be done to put the course back on track."

"During this time the student assigned to assist her will settle into their capacity as the listener to students' problems,"

He addressed Harry directly at this point and said "I rather thought that "Student Advisor" would be an appropriate title for the role."

Harry gave a nod and replied "Sounds good to my ears, Minister."

"The Student Advisor will be charged with listening to the problems and complaints of his or her fellow students, and acting as they see fit, resolving what they can whilst reporting anything that they cannot deal with themselves. This includes dealing with any complaints against both staff and prefects. The Student Advisor will have the authority to question the decisions of the prefects, as well as reprimand them. The Student Advisor will also attend staff meetings in order to act as the voice of the students."

The Minister continued "After reviewing her own course, Madam Umbridge will be officially appointed to the role of Hogwarts High Inquisitor. In this role she will be charged with reviewing all courses provided by the school, as well as carrying out Ministry approved assessments of all staff, both academic and support, in order to determine their suitability to deliver what is required. During this she will also have the power to oversee disciplinary action against students, and adjust any given punishment as she sees fit. Also, in the event of the Headmaster being removed from the school by the Ministry, all staff not reviewed and approved by the High Inquisitor will be suspended without pay pending the results of further investigation. Also in that event the High Inquisitor will replace the Headmaster of the School."

"One the High Inquisitor is in place, the Student Advisor will be appointed as Junior Inquisitor. Alongside his or her previous duties, the Junior Inquisitor will now also be required to conduct reviews of the prefects of all houses as well as the head boy and girl in order to determine that they are suitable for the role they were given, and will be able to remove them from those posts should they are deemed to be inefficient. The Junior Inquisitor will be charged with reviewing all those involved with the school's inter-house Quidditch tournament, and will have the power to remove from the teams any player who either shows themselves to be undeserving of their position, or if the student in question is failing to keep up with their studies between training sessions and matches. The Junior Inquisitor will be able to assist members of staff in overseeing disciplinary action against students (observing detentions). The Junior Inquisitor, acting as the voice of the students, will also be granted a say in any and all future educational decrees considered by the Ministry of Magic. Also in the event of the High Inquisitor being unable to perform all of her duties the Junior Inquisitor shall deputise for her and carry out those duties to the best of their abilities."

Harry gaped slightly before commenting "Wow. That certainly is a lot to ask of one student."

"Afraid you're not up to the task, Mr Potter?" asked Madam Umbridge, her unpleasant smile genuine this time.

"Oh, I do not doubt that I could do this job," replied Harry "But there is a slight problem with how it might affect my own personal studies. There is also the question of how I am supposed to fit all of that work around my usual lesson plan."

Fudge looked down at the list on the parchment on the desk before him and frowned slightly "I suppose you are right."

"Perhaps," Harry offered "there might be a way around this issue. Once the Student Advisor is appointed to the role of Junior Inquisitor it would be prudent to appoint assistants."

"And how might we do such a thing?" asked Madam Umbridge.

Harry thought for a few moments before commenting "Prefects are selected by the staff and then pretty much forced upon their fellow students whether they like it or not. Perhaps it would pay to take the idea of a prefect but appoint them differently."

"How so?" asked the Minister.

"An election," replied Harry "You know, like how a new Minister is appointed. Various students could put themselves forward for consideration, and their fellow students vote. The winner gets the job of Assistant Student Advisor. I'm thinking we maybe do one per year group, although that might intimidate the first year and second year candidate, and there is the house rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin to consider…"

"There is an easy way around that," replied Madam Bones "One student, per house, per year. That way everyone gets a voice."

"That seems like a perfect idea, Madam Bones." said Fudge.

"There is just one problem though," said Harry, thoughtfully "What incentive do we give them to take on such a responsibility?"

"I would imagine," said Fudge "that like the position of prefect, Assistant Student Advisor would look good on one's résumé."

"Perhaps they should receive a Ministry recognised certificate of merit," said Harry "You know, something to prove that they held a position of responsibility that was approved by the Ministry of Magic itself."

Fudge clasped his hands together eagerly "A wonderful idea, Harry. Yes, a Ministry approved merit. Excellent thinking. I trust that that you will be taking the position then?"

"I believe I will," replied Harry "After all, if Assistant Student Advisor will look good on the résumé, I can only image how good Junior Inquisitor will look."

"Excellent," said the Minister "You will of course be rewarded for your efforts, the details of which we will discuss shortly."

"Of course," Harry continued "I will need to make a few arrangements. I will need to resign from the Gryffindor Quidditch team. In fact it would probably be best if I dropped Gryffindor house altogether. As I said the house rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin is going as strong as ever. My being associated with one particular house over another will make some students far less likely to approach me. I believe that I will have to appear neutral in all aspects."

"Good thinking," replied the Minister "I'm sure that the castle can provide you with private accommodation."

"What about contingency plans?" asked Madam Bones.

"What in the name of Merlin do you mean, Amelia?" asked Madam Umbridge.

"Contingency plans," repeated Madam Bones "You know, back up plans. We use them all the time within my department. Something to fall back on in case things go wrong."

Harry nodded and commented "Sounds smart, especially as we will be at Hogwarts, where all sorts of strange things happen."

Fudge had a thoughtful expression on his face as he asked "What kind of contingency plans might we need?"

"Well, there should always be something in place in case someone is compromised," replied Madam Bones "Suppose someone decided to stun Madam Umbridge here and replace her with another person who used Polyjuice potion to imitate her." Here Madam Umbridge visibly bristled, but Madam Bones went on unabated "What would happen then? I mean, there are not guarantees that we would find out right away, but when we eventually did so, what would need to happen."

The office was quiet for a moment before Harry offered "How about in the event of the High Inquisitor becoming compromised, all staff reviewed and approved by her will be suspended without pay pending the results of the ensuing investigation."

"Excellent," said Fudge "I can see that we certainly are going to benefit from having you on board, Mr Potter. Now then, for obvious reasons we are concerned that our upcoming actions may cause quite a stir. Usually I would not ask this of anyone, but do you think that you might do us the courtesy of providing an interview with the Daily Prophet? It could do a lot to assuage people's fears, especially as you yourself will have a key role in all of this. Both Dolores and I will be doing so as well."

Harry thought carefully for a few moments before replying.

"I suppose that it could not hurt to give them an interview. The world deserves to know the truth of what we are doing, after all. However, I will not be a Ministry mouthpiece, Minister. I will gladly tell them of anything that you are doing that I approve of, but I reserve the right to speak negatively about anything that I believe the Ministry to be doing wrong. I have to preserve my own reputation, after all."

"And is there anything that we are doing that you disapprove of?" asked Madam Umbridge with a dangerous edge to her voice.

"No, there isn't," lied Harry "And I hope that it remains that way. But as Madam Bones rightly pointed out, we have to have contingencies."

Fudge studied him for a few moments before giving a nod of his head and replying "Very well. All I can ask in return is that if we do run into such a problem down the line that we can discuss it in a proper and civilised manner before anyone talks to the Prophet."

"That's fine," replied Harry "Oh, and make sure that the reporter isn't Rita Skeeter. I simply cannot stand that woman."

Fudge looked surprised and said "Didn't you know, Mr Potter? Rita Skeeter no longer writes for the Daily Prophet. She disappeared for two weeks at the end of the last school year, turned up out of nowhere and handed her notice in. Said something about "learning her lesson"."

"Huh," was Harry's very eloquent outward response, but on the inside he said "_Well, at least that proved that Hermione is still good for something."_

The conversation went on for a while longer, discussing a few finer points as well as what Harry would be getting paid for his role. They all agreed that it would be best to not tell the world of Harry's role yet. It would be better left secret until he was back at school, as this would make things a bit more difficult for Dumbledore.

The interview was scheduled to take place on the 1st of September at eight o'clock in the morning in the Minister's office. From there Harry would go directly to the Hogwarts Express. Once at Hogwarts, both Madam Umbridge and Harry would address the entire school during the welcoming speech, and the Prophet interview would be in the Prophet the following morning.

* * *

On the highest floor of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, in a large office there sat a stately looking Goblin behind a large mahogany desk.

He was furious, beyond anything that he had ever felt in his life before. In his hand he clutched a letter from one of the banks most important customers, a letter that provided damning evidence against many, ether wizard or goblin. Or perhaps even both.

It read

"_To the Goblin Director of Gringotts Wizarding Bank,_

_My name is Harry James Potter and I should like to express a few grievances that I have had in the way that my accounts are being dealt with._

_Until very recently I was unaware that I should be receiving monthly statements regarding my trust vault, provided to me by my parents in order to oversee my schooling as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

_The problem is that I have not been receiving those statements, and this has left me in doubt._

_I am hoping that this was merely an oversight by the employees of Gringotts, and something that they will hasten to correct. The only other possibility is that there is a sinister plot afoot._

_If it is the former, then please make the appropriate chances as soon as possible and start sending the statements for my trust fund directly to me. I would also request that all possible statements regarding the past of my trust be sent to me as well. Should this be done, then I will take no further action._

_However, if there is something more sinister going on, please let me know as soon as possible. By all means investigate the issue, but please do nothing to tip off the guilty as there currently seems to be several attempts to manipulate me going on and we are trying to avoid them getting wind of current investigations into the matter. I request that any information that you might find be forwarded to Madam Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement of the Ministry of magic so that she might continue to build her case. Again please begin sending me statements from my trust fund, if it is possible to do so without alerting the guilty. And again please include copies of all previous statements._

_I understand that Gringotts takes its security seriously, and so do I. As such I enclose three of my hairs and a blood sample to verify my identity. If this is not satisfactory, and you would prefer a meeting face to face, please contact either Madam Amelia Bones or Healer Sarah Abbott and they will make the necessary arrangements._

_Yours in good faith,_

_Harry James Potter._

Ragnok the Goblin gripped the piece of parchment that the letter was written on so tightly that it crumpled up in his clawed hand. He did not need to meet the boy in person, as he had been advised correctly and the samples provided gave him all the information that he needed to know.

As the Goblin Director, he knew instinctively that this was no mere oversight on the part of his people. The employees of Gringotts Wizarding Bank did not make mistakes like this one. Like Madam Bones and Mr Potter, the Goblin Director smelled a conspiracy. And he knew exactly who the main culprit was. How many times had there been requests made to meet with the heir of the Potter family only for that man to decline on the boy's behalf, after ensuring them that he was acting _in loco parentis_?

Ragnok would do everything in his power to sort this out. Not only was one of Gringotts most important accounts at risk, but so was the bank itself as well as the entire Goblin nation. He would personally ensure that every scrap of information that they unearthed on this case was presented to the head of the DMLE.

The reputation of the nation depended upon it.

* * *

**A/N****: So how was that? I hope you enjoyed Harry playing with the Minister a little in this chapter. There should be enough foreshadowing here as well to be going on with. I'm thinking that the next chapter will contain a slight time-skip to September 1****st**** with Harry boarding the train. Like here the important bits of what was skipped will be explained in flashbacks, and we will also get to see Harry in action and he makes his new position known the length of the Hogwarts Express.**


	11. Aboard the Hogwarts Express - Part 1

**Here we go with chapter eleven, and Harry is finally on his way back to Hogwarts!**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 11: Aboard the Hogwarts Express - Part 1

It was very noisy on the platform. Dozens of Hogwarts students were milling about, greeting friends and excitedly discussing what prospects the coming school year would hold as their anxious parents attempted to check and double check with their children that they had packed everything that they would need at the castle. Voices shouted, people laughed and various owls hooted and cats mewed. In just five minutes time, the Hogwarts Express would be departing, beginning on its long trip north from Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station in London to Hogsmeade Station, somewhere up in Scotland.

A second year girl ran along one of the carriages, screaming out excitedly to one of her friends, and in doing so she also woke up one of the occupants of one of the compartments she passed.

Harry blinked a couple of times before sending a glare towards the door of the compartment. This was pointless of course as the girl who woke him was now three doors down.

Harry was currently seated in a compartment with Susan and Hannah. The three had arrived two streets over from the station with Sarah twenty minutes ago. For security reasons Harry had entered the station, and Platform 9 ¾ two minutes after Sarah, Susan and Hannah. He was once again disguised, but this time through the use of Polyjuice potion. The extra precaution of his arriving separately was used in case the platform was being watched. On his own, Harry could simply blend in with the crowd and likely draw absolutely no attention to himself. However had he entered with the others, any half observant watcher would note an unknown travelling with the small group.

The precaution was proved to have been necessary when Harry spotted Alastor Moody lurking on Platform 9 ¾, no doubt keeping a close watch on the barrier for Harry's arrival.

With his disguise in place Harry was able to walk straight across the platform and get onto the train without Moody noticing.

Once he was on the train, Susan had voiced the opinion that her Aunt would be most interested in the fact that it was Moody who had been on the platform on Dumbledore's orders.

Harry had taken a seat and closed his eyes. He hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night as he had spent most of it going over his plans in his head. Even though there had been much preparation during the previous month for coming events, today was the day where all those plans kicked into gear. Thankfully the meeting with the journalist from the Daily Prophet at the Ministry that morning had gone off without a hitch, with Harry giving a prepared statement, followed by one of two follow up questions that had not been too hard to answer.

The really difficult tasks, however, were still lying ahead of him. The prefects meeting would be first, and was not entirely sure whether he was looking forward to it or not. He had been informed that Draco Malfoy was one of the new Slytherin prefects, and Harry could hardly wait to see the look on the ferret's face when he realised that Harry ranked above him. However it would also be a moment of reckoning, the moment that his new position would be revealed to everyone. And that was when the real pressure would begin.

He would have to make a lasting impression on the prefects, and a fair few of them were older than him, making that task harder. He would lay out the new rules for them, and leave it up to them how they responded. If he ended up having to take one of their badges in order to get his point across then so be it. If he had to make an example of one prefect to ensure that the rest fully understood the situation, then Harry had no qualms about doing so.

"Feeling sleepy?" asked Susan.

"No," Harry replied "Just practicing my occlumency."

"Sure you were," replied Hannah with a smirk.

Harry's occlumency had taken a definite upturn in the time since the Horcrux had been removed from his body. Just the night before Cyrus Greengrass had announced that Harry's shields were now strong enough to keep out gentle legillimency probes, the kind Harry was slowly becoming certain that Dumbledore used on him on a regular basis.

Sarah had mentioned that she was surprised at how quickly Harry had mastered the basics of occlumency, but Cyrus suggested that Harry's magic probably already had a grasp of the basics, even if he himself did not know it. Harry had managed to prevent Voldemort's soul fragment from taking over his mind for nearly fourteen years, after all. And most of that had occurred before Harry was even aware of his magic. Harry had asked and Cyrus confirmed that this was likely why Harry had been able to throw off the imperius curse on several occasions in the past. Harry's magic knew how to shield his mind, even without his knowledge of it happening. Now he just had to take all of that magic that once kept the soul fragment blocked off and train it to protect his entire mind even more strongly than before.

Aside from learning occlumency, Sarah had insisted that Harry learn several important spells as well. Madam Bones secured a temporary permission form from Mafalda Hopkirke that allowed Harry to practice these spells only. They were revealing spells, designed to detect potions and poisons in his food and drink, as well as any compulsion charms or similar enchantments on objects. With the potions that had earlier been found in his system almost certainly having come from Severus Snape, or someone else in the Dumbledore-Worshippers (D-W) Club, the learning of these spells were deemed to be just as necessary for Harry to learn as occlumency was.

"They're here." Susan announced.

Harry leaned back in his seat. His disguise was still in place, but he did not want to be seen looking just in case.

"Who, exactly?" he asked.

"The Weasley family" replied Susan "Well, most of them anyway. Ron, Ginny, the twins, both parents and the older brother who turned up to watch the third task of the Tri-Wizard tournament."

"Anyone else?" asked Harry.

"Looks like our defence professor from third year is with them as well," said Hannah "Lupin."

Harry nodded to her before Susan added "Our defence professor for the coming year is out there as well. And Kingsley Shacklebolt."

"Who?"

"He's an Auror," said Susan "Supposed to be one of the best. I wonder what Auntie will make of that?"

"There's a big black dog too," said Hannah "Oh, and there's Granger. She's got your owl with her, Harry. In a cage."

Harry's eyes darkened. So Sirius could not be bothered to make contact with him all summer, and yet here he was now, hoping to ambush him with the rest of the D-W Club on the platform. And Hermione was with them all as well, having kept his beloved Hedwig a prisoner all summer.

"They're all making their way over to Moody." observed Hannah "Must be wanting to know if he's seen you."

"Looks like your two old friends both made prefect this year." said Susan.

Hannah turned to Harry and commented "I do so hope that you won't go giving them special treatment now, Harry."

He snorted derisively and replied "Not likely. But I won't be biased against them either. All prefects get the same chances. Three strikes and they're out."

Susan nudged her friend and said "Hear that Hannah? Three strikes only, so don't you go embarrassing Hufflepuff house, alright?"

In reply the new Hufflepuff prefect stuck out her tongue at her best friend.

Harry rolled his eyes at their antics and commented "I very much doubt that many will push me that far. A couple might get to two strikes, but three will be rare. Hopefully."

"So who do we think will be first to go?" asked Susan.

"Malfoy or Weasley, most likely." replied Harry "Depends who abuses their position the most as to who gets stripped of their post first. And it depends on other students reporting misdemeanours by prefects. I expect that Malfoy might be able to bully others into keeping quiet, but I expect that the Gryffindors might be more willing to complain about Weasley."

"What about Granger?" asked Hannah.

"I may end up having to give her at least one strike before the message sinks in as she can be quite stubborn at times," said Harry "But she is also sensible enough that a strike will make her realise the reality of the situation."

"Do you think that she'll ever come around to your way of thinking?" said Susan.

"Maybe," said Harry "I don't know if she will ever see Dumbledore from my point of view, but hopefully she will realise that what I am trying to do is the right thing."

"You think she could still be useful to you?" said Susan.

"She is intelligent," said Harry "And intelligence is a valuable asset, especially in the face of the relative stupidity of your average witch or wizard. She could be useful, but only after she has learned the hard way what blind obedience to Dumbledore will get you."

Neither Susan nor Hannah complained when he made a dig at wizarding intellect. Both knew all too well that many of their fellow magic wielders did not have an ounce of logic in their heads, instead relying far too much on magic to provide a solution for every problem that came their way. The Potter, Bones and Abbott families were amongst the few who were still able to utilise logic as it was in their best interests to do so. Their businesses dealt with muggles on a frequent basis, after all.

Suddenly the train's whistle sounded loudly, alerting everyone that the Hogwarts Express was about to leave the station. Outside the last few stragglers, including the four Weasley children and Hermione all darted towards the train.

A few moments later the train set off, blowing out another long note, this one of farewell. All along the train students were leaning out of windows to shout and wave final goodbyes to their families. Harry saw Sarah standing in the crowed, waving to both Hannah and Susan. Then she glanced towards him and winked. Harry smiled back, and remembered how, just before leaving Bones Manor for the train station Sarah had given him a kiss on the forehead and pulled him into a hug. It was the kind of thing he used to imagine his own mother giving him when he was younger – comforting and reassuring without being smothering, like Mrs Weasley's hugs tended to be.

The train pulled out of the station and slowly the building disappeared from sight. Unseen by muggles, the train made its way out of the city of London unimpeded and was soon trundling past countryside.

"Your hair is turning from brown to black." observed Susan.

Harry nodded and stood up. He felt his features morph and change back to those that belonged to him, as opposed to those of the random muggle boy whose hair had gone into the Polyjuice potion.

"Right," said Hannah "Prefects' meeting then?"

Harry nodded and joined the blond Hufflepuff in exiting the compartment.

"Good luck!" Susan called after them.

Harry gave her a brief thumbs up before disappearing down the corridor.

"Any idea who the other Hufflepuff prefect is?" asked Harry as they made their way down the corridor.

"No idea," replied Hannah "It's probably Ernie, but he was holidaying in France for most of the summer, so I haven't been able to contact him to ask."

The prefects' compartment was located right near the front of the train, so they had to pass by quite a few other cabins to get there.

"How the hell do you stand it?" hissed Hannah as they passed through a fifth carriage.

"Stand what?" asked Harry.

"All the staring." said Hannah "I've only been walking next to you for about a minute and it's already driving me up the wall."

Harry looked around to see several faces gawking at him through the glass panel in the nearest door.

"You learn to ignore it," replied Harry "Trust me, if I didn't, I'd have snapped a long time ago."

They finally arrived at the prefects' cabin. Looking through the glass in the door they could see that Head Boy Roger Davies, a Ravenclaw, and Head Girl Patricia Stimpson, a Hufflepuff, had already begun to hold court.

"Patricia Stimpson for Head Girl," observed Harry "Really?"

"Yeah, why?" asked Hannah "What's wrong with her?"

"Well, nothing really," said Harry "But didn't she have some kind of nervous breakdown during her fifth year because of the pressure of the O.W.L. exams?"

"She had a few panic attacks, nothing more." replied Hannah "And so what if she did?"

"Well what are the teachers playing at putting her in the role of Head Girl when past events show that she doesn't handle stress too well? Don't forget she'll be taking her N.E.W.T. exams this year, and they're much worse than O.W.L's."

"Maybe the stress won't get to her this time if she's already used to it," suggested Hannah "Come on. It's time for your grand entrance."

"Right," said Harry "Well, here goes nothing."

He reached for the handle on the compartment door and pulled it back.

The people in the room all went silent as every eye turned towards the door. Harry glanced around at the prefects for his year group and saw that both Ron and Hermione were already seated. Draco Malfoy was there too, sitting next to Pansy Parkinson. Padma Patil and Anthony Goldstein were the prefects for Ravenclaw house and Ernie Macmillan was there representing Hufflepuff.

Hannah made her way across the compartment and sat herself down in the empty seat next to Ernie, which was obviously reserved for her given the badger emblem stitched into the back. The sixth year prefects were Geoffrey Hooper and Bianca Dunstan for Gryffindor, Eddie Carmichael and Cho Chang for Ravenclaw, Eric Summerby and Heidi Macavoy for Hufflepuff and Adrian Pucey and Rosalie Pritchard for Slytherin. As for the seventh years, Gryffindor was represented by Kenneth Towler and Emma Puckle, Ravenclaw by Marian Green, Hufflepuff by Maxwell Parkin and Slytherin by Ross Harper and Sophia Baddock.

With this year's Head Boy and Girl being appointed from Prefect positions, there was a grand total of twenty four people.

Draco Malfoy was the first to speak up. In his characteristic drawl he said "Potter? What on earth do you think you're doing here? I know you can barely function without your pet mudblood by your side, but surely you can last an hour on your own?"

Harry smirked and commented "That's a bit rich coming from you, Draco. Tell me, where are those strapping young book ends that you never seem to go anywhere without?"

Malfoy's face turned red very quickly, but before he could offer up a retort, Roger Davies spoke up "While I do not condone the language he used, Malfoy does have a point, Potter. This is a prefects' meeting and any student who is not a prefect is not allowed in."

"Yeah, Potter." said Pansy "Shove off."

"Actually, I am allowed to enter this meeting." replied Harry "It is a part of my new duties, you see?"

"What new duties?" asked Cho.

Harry undid the zip on the jacket he was wearing and reached for the inside pocket. He pulled out a small roll of parchment, which he unfurled. He then cleared his throat and began to read aloud.

"_Educational Decree Number 25_

_Harry James Potter is hereby assigned to the post of Student Advisor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.__ The Student Advisor is charged with listening to the problems and complaints of their fellow students, and acting as they see fit, resolving what they can whilst reporting anything that they cannot deal with themselves. This includes dealing with any complaints against both staff and prefects. The Student Advisor will have the authority to question the decisions of the prefects, as well as reprimand them. The Student Advisor will also attend staff meetings in order to act as the voice of the students. The Student Advisor will regularly liaise with the prefects, including attending their meetings, in order to ensure that they are up to the task of operating in the best interests of not only their fellow students but also the school as a whole._

_Signed,_

_Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic._

_Griselda Edwina Marchbanks, Governor of the Wizarding Examinations Authority._

With a grin on his face, Harry looked up from the parchment and began to roll it back up as he took in the looks on the faces of those gathered.

Most looked either confused or surprised at this revelation. Others, most notably Ron and Draco looked to be about ready to explode with anger. Hannah was grinning amusedly at the array of reactions. Hermione however looked introspective.

"So there you have it." said Harry, tucking the roll of parchment away "You all have a job to do, and it is my job to make sure that you are doing it."

"Why would the Ministry do this?" asked Bianca Dunstan "Do they not trust us to do our jobs?"

"I'm not going to lie to you," said Harry "There have been a few issues with the choice of prefects in the past. Cases of prefects abusing their positions have been reported but never acted upon. As the staff of Hogwarts have made it repeatedly clear that they cannot be bothered to address these issues, the Ministry has seen fit to ask me to step in as an independent body. Someone to help things run more smoothly, you see? If a student has some kind of problem with a prefect, they can come to me rather than a Professor and we can work towards sorting out the situation. Similarly, if any of you are ever faced with a difficult problem, you are more than welcome to come to me and seek my help."

"So you're here to help us as well as control us should any of us go mad with power?" asked Anthony.

"In a nutshell." replied Harry "It is my hope that we can all work together to help Hogwarts to function better than ever before."

"And what do you get out of this, Potter?" asked Pansy "The title of prefect means something once we get out of school. Does yours?"

"It most certainly will," answered Harry "I am doing this at the Ministry's request, after all."

"Any rules?" asked Roger.

"Just a couple," said Harry "From now on there is a "three strikes and you're out" system in place for all prefects. For the first strike you serve two nights detention. For the second you lose privileges. For the third, you lose your badge. Understand?"

Everyone nodded, though some did not seem happy about it.

"The punishments may seem harsh," said Harry "But as prefects you are supposed to lead by example, and therefore must be held to a higher standard than most. Trust me when I say that I do have the authorisation to do this. I do not wish anyone in here to get three strikes, but if you do I will not be lenient on any of you. If any of you are caught bullying, and I promise you that I will find out if you do, you will be in for a world of pain. Is that understood?"

Getting another round of nods from everyone, Harry turned back to the Head Boy and Girl. "Roger, Patricia, I believe that the two of you had the floor?"

Hannah turned to the girl next to her and hissed "Budge up, Pad."

Padma Patil shifted a little to her right as Hannah moved to her left. The blond Hufflepuff then patted the space between herself and the Ravenclaw prefect and Harry moved to sit down.

It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but neither girl was particularly feeling like complaining.

"A guy could get used to being in positions such as this one." commented Harry as he pulled out a muggle note-pad and a self-inking quill. Hannah nudged him with her elbow.

Roger shook his head and carried on with the meeting. Harry was pleased to see that the majority of the prefects saw what he was doing and took it on board. Even Pansy Parkinson had the good sense to take out a bit of parchment and a quill in order to jot down a couple of notes.

Ron on the other hand seemed to be perfectly content to let Hermione take all the notes whilst he busied himself with gazing vacantly out of the window. Draco chose to spend the rest of the meeting glaring in Harry's direction rather than pay attention to what was being said.

Harry made sure to jot that down in the margin.

* * *

Harry was just making to follow Padma out of the compartment when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Hermione was trying to gain his attention. Not feeling up to dealing with her just yet, he ignored her. Thankfully he was separated from her by Bianca, Marian, Heidi, Geoffrey and Eric so he could convincingly pretend that he hadn't spotted her.

What he really wanted was to confront her outright, and demand that she return Hedwig to him, but now was not the time to do such things. Instead he followed Padma out of the room, having agreed to assist the Ravenclaw prefects as they took the first patrol. Actually he was going to be assisting each house in turn; the Ravenclaws were just up first.

Surprisingly quickly he found himself along in a corridor with only Cho Chang for company.

Given that Harry was the last person to see her late boyfriend Cedric Diggory alive, this had the possibility of getting very awkward very quickly.

His own personal crush on the girl certainly would not help matters.

"So, did you have a good summer, Harry?" she asked.

Harry gave a shrug in response before saying "It was alright, I suppose. Learned a couple of things, but that's about it."

"Hannah have anything to do with it?"

"Why do you ask?"

"You just seemed very comfortable sitting next to her in the prefects' meeting. I've never noticed you having much to do with her before now."

"Well, I got to know her a bit better over the summer months I suppose." replied Harry "Turns out her mother was friends with mine when they were at school together. I got in contact with her in the hopes of finding out more about what my parents were like."

"But that's not all that happened to you, is it?" Cho asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that the Daily Prophet was saying some strange things during the first month or so and then went quiet. I mean that my father was approached several times by different individuals who seemed to be trying to locate your whereabouts. And I mean that you've turned up on the Hogwarts Express with a position of authority under your belt that had to come from somewhere."

"That, Cho, is a very long story filled with lies, ignorance, betrayals and yet more lies that I am only just beginning to understand myself."

"So what's the short version?"

"The short version is that the world is about to change and many are going to fall. I hope to be one of the few left standing."

Cho nodded thoughtfully and bit her lip before leaning in close and whispering into his ear "Well in that case, if there is anything that I can help you with, anything that you need… _anything at all_," she added breathily "you just let me know how I can help."

She pulled back from him, making sure to brush her lips against his cheek as she did so.

Harry felt his face heating up as she winked at him and then turned and walked away.

"_Holy crap!" _he screamed in his mind.

He stood there, struck dumb for a few long moments, long after Cho had disappeared from sight. Finally, vowing no never ever wash his cheek again Harry turned around to walk away, only to nearly walk straight into Hannah, who was just standing there with a grin on her face that could rival any ever produced by Peeves the Poltergeist of Hogwarts Castle.

Forcing his voice to work, Harry asked "How long have you been standing there."

"Long enough." she replied.

"And how much did you hear?"

"Who says I heard _anything_?" she asked, making sure to finish in the same breathy tone as Cho.

Harry tried for several moments to come up with a retort, but after opening and closing his mouth a couple of times like a gaping fish, he settled for spinning on his heel and walking off down the corridor, muttering something along the lines of "Bloody women!"

Fully satisfied with her work, Hannah turned around as well and went off in search of Susan in order to share this newest piece of juicy news.

Harry passed into the next carriage and was interrupted in his non-verbal grumblings about the evils of the fairer sex when he found his way blocked.

It was Ron.

"You just had to do it, didn't you Potter?" the red head shouted at him "You couldn't let me have a bit of glory for once could you? I make prefect and you have to go and do… this!"

Harry had hoped to put this confrontation off for a little while, but it seemed that the jealous prat was going to force the issue.

"For your information, Weasley, until I entered the prefects' compartment earlier, I didn't have the faintest clue that you had been made a prefect. So it you want to blame anyone, then I suggest that you blame yourself, as it is you who was the one who saw fit to not inform me of your little bit of news."

Harry had gone straight for the jugular, and the look on Ron's face told Harry that he had hit the mark.

"I couldn't," replied Ron, his tone completely different now "Dumbledore said-"

"Then clearly your problem is with Dumbledore." interrupted Harry "Either way, don't go blaming me for not knowing the small details of your life during my forced exclusion."

"Harry please," said Hermione, causing Harry to realise for the first time that she was there as well "Neither of us liked not being able to write to you all summer, but Professor Dumbledore-"

"Let's get one thing absolutely clear here, shall we?" said Harry "From now on, neither of you is my friend, if you ever were."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but Harry held up a hand to silence her before continuing "We will continue to interact with each other in the manner of prefects and student advisor, but beyond that there is nothing between us. Understood?"

"But-" began Hermione, only for him to interrupt her again.

"I said is that understood?"

Tears filled her eyes. Obviously too choked up to offer up a verbal reply she settled for giving an nod of her head in confirmation that she understood.

"Good," said Harry "Now then, I believe that you have been keeping a good friend of mine prisoner for most of the summer. I'd like to have her back."

Hermione nodded again and turned towards the open compartment door to her left. Harry followed her in and saw her make her way over to the cage that contained Hedwig. The Snowy Owl barked happily at seeing him.

Hermione opened the cage door, allowing Harry to see for the first time that her hands were badly scratched. Apparently Hedwig had been quite vicious in letting her anger be known.

The Snowy Owl hopped out of the cage, beat her wings and flapped over to Harry, making sure to bat Hermione around the side of her face along the way.

With Hedwig now resting on his arm, Harry turned and left the compartment without another word to Hermione. He brushed by Ron as he left the compartment and was just making his way towards the next carriage when Hermione found her voice again.

"Where were you all summer?"

Harry paused for a moment, and then, without turning around to look at her, he replied "That is none of your concern."

He left.

Behind him Hermione slumped back against the wall of the cabin. Ron nudged her to move inside. The other occupants of the compartment, Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom watched as Hermione moved into the compartment and sat down on one of the seats. She tucked her knees up under her chin and buried her face in her arms.

* * *

**A/N: Wow that was a pain to write! Hopefully it all makes sense and there are no gaping holes. If there are, let me know so I can fix them.**

**Oh, and for anyone wondering, only the prefects of Harry's year are canon. The rest are random, as apparantly the kids who became prefects between Percy's year and Harry's weren't important. Some of their names, like Patricia Stimpson and Kenneth Towler are canon, but others like Bianca Dunstan and Emma Puckle are made up.**

**Five house points to the first person to point out the significance of Emma Puckle's name!**

**Also the thing about Patricia Stimpson breaking down during her O.W.L's is cannon as well!**


	12. Aboard the Hogwarts Express - Part 2

**Sorry for the delay. I don't really have an excuse, apart from my muse refusing to settle down on any one story.**

**Anyway, I hope that his chapter is worth the wait!**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 12: Aboard the Hogwarts Express – Part 2

Harry stormed through several carriages before coming to a stop. His confrontations with Ron and Hermione had him literally trembling with suppressed rage.

He had not planned on being so harsh with them, but Ron's whole attitude had just caused him to snap at them.

The accusation from Ron that Harry had deliberately obtained his new position purely to outshine the red headed git hurt deeply, but it also woke Harry up to a truth about Ron that he had long known, but long ignored.

Ron was a glory hound.

Any chance to be the centre of attention and Ron took it. And that forced Harry to wonder if the only reason that Ron befriended him in the first place was so that he could bask in the reflected glow of Harry's own personal fame. He had certainly lapped up all the attention he could get after partaking in the events of the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament back in February.

In fact he had greatly embellished upon his role, claiming to any and all who would listen that his placement at the bottom of the lake for Harry to rescue him had been the end result of his single-handed struggle against fifty spear-wielding Mermen who had to beat him into submission before tying him up, a tale which stood in stark contrast to those of the other hostages, all of whom told how they, Ron included, were escorted to an office, told what was going to happen and then were put into an enchanted sleep after agreeing to take part.

And any chance to outshine Harry completely was manna from heaven in Ron's eyes. And his reaction to Harry's new position meant that Harry could almost see the prat now, strutting about the Burrow, smug in the knowledge that he had been granted a prefects badge whereas Harry had not.

And as far as Harry could tell, that was all that the position of prefect meant to Ron. It was something that he had that Harry did not. That was the prat's reason for valuing the position bestowed upon him.

Then on top of that there was Hermione, who had the gall to not only attempt to pass off the blame for her own mistake onto others, but to then try to question him about where he had been during the summer, after it had been she who had decided to not only cut off all contact with him during those weeks, but to also keep his pet owl hostage so that he could contact no one else.

Said owl was still on his shoulder and caught his attention with a soft, mewling _pyee-pyee._

Harry reached up a hand and scratched her affectionately, and muttered "Well, at least I've still got you Hedwig."

In answer the female snowy owl butted her head affectionately against his cheek.

Harry moved on to the next carriage, and was quite surprised to make out raised voices coming from the compartment at the far end.

As he got closer, he realised that one of the voices belonged to Draco Malfoy.

"This this is Slytherin business, Patil, so it doesn't concern you. Now butt out."

The voice of the fifth year Ravenclaw prefect Padma Patil responded "For your information, Malfoy, when I am on patrol and bad behaviour is _my _business!"

"Oh, why don't you just piss off you stupid cow?" asked the snide voice of Pansy Parkinson.

"Fine," retorted Padma, and there was an edge to her voice now "Fine then. I'll leave, and I'll get Harry. And I'm quite sure that he will take great pleasure in informing your head of house that you have each gotten a strike against you before the school term has even officially started!"

"Oh please," scoffed Malfoy dismissively "Potter can't do anything to me and he knows it."

At this, Harry slid the door to the compartment open and said "Can't I, Draco? Are you absolutely sure of that?"

Harry was pleased to see Draco's usually sneering face pale slightly at his sudden entrance. Like all bullies, Draco Malfoy lived in fear of being discovered for what he really was by an authority figure. Or at least, an authority figure who could be bothered to take the time and effort to actually punish him for his misdemeanours. And whether he actually publically acknowledged it or not, Draco knew, on some level, that Harry Potter was one of those authority figures.

His reaction was only momentary however, and he quickly fixed a superior sneer on his face, drew himself up and demanded "What are you doing here Potter? Poking your nose into other peoples' business?"

"I am merely doing my job, Draco," Harry replied calmly "As I am required to make sure that all prefects are able to perform their duties effectively, I am patrolling with them to see how well they are doing. When I heard the raised voice of Prefect Patil, here, I realised that she was dealing with a troublesome student or two, and decided to come and see her in action. Can you imagine my surprise to find that she was locked in a dispute with not one, but two other prefects, one of whom attempted to undermine her authority whilst the other verbally insulted her? Not behaviour very becoming of prefects."

For the first time in their respective lives, Draco and Pansy both simultaneously managed to summon the willpower to not bite out and ill thought out retort.

Harry took the time to take a look around the compartment. Aside from Padma, Draco and Pansy, there were five other Slytherins present. Two of them were Malfoy's personal goons, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, two individuals who were extremely lacking in the brains department and were mostly there to look intimidating.

The other three Slytherins were girls, each one being members of Pansy Parkinson's gang, a bunch of sycophants whose sole purpose for existence had always appeared to be to offer up peals of squealing laughter every time Pansy said something mildly insulting to anyone else.

Today, however, something appeared to be off about that situation. One of the girls, Tracey Davis was sporting an angry red mark on the side of her face, making it look as though she had been slapped by someone, and hard. Tears were stinging at the edges of her eyes, but she seemed to possess a steely resolve, utterly determined to not let them fall.

The other two girls Harry also knew. They were the Greengrass sisters, the daughters of Cyrus Greengrass who had helped Harry out so much over the summer.

The older sister, Daphne, appeared to be absolutely furious with the situation, appearing ready to lash out at a moment's notice. She was positioned on the opposite side of the compartment, her body turned slightly as though to protect her younger sister, Astoria, who was pressed up against the wall, were eyes wide with fear.

Resigning himself to dealing with a nasty situation, Harry turned to Padma and said "Alright, Prefect Patil, report please."

Not quite used to being addressed in such a way, Padma took a short moment to gather herself before replying "I was passing the compartment door when I heard raised voices coming from within. I went to the window and although the blinds were closed, I was able to look in by crouching down and looking through the gap beneath the bind. Malfoy was giving a speech about how things would change in Slytherin house now that he was a prefect. It seems he was planning on attempting to give detentions to every younger students and half-blood who failed to address him as "Sir." This includes Tracey, who told him to shove the idea up his – um…, well where the sun doesn't shine. In response Draco hit her, and that is when I intervened."

Harry listened to and thought over her answer before turning to the three girls sitting in the seats to his left and asking "Can you confirm this?"

Tracey watched him for a moment before looking towards Pansy, who glared back furiously. She then glanced towards Daphne before turning back to Harry and answering "Yes, Padma's version of events is the truth."

Harry nodded before turning his gaze upon the other two "And you?"

Daphne too turned to Pansy, who again glared back. Daphne returned the look, however, before answering Harry with "It's the truth," as behind her Astoria nodded her head vigorously.

"You bitch!" screeched Pansy as she launched herself towards Daphne, who was more than ready for her. A scrap quickly began between the two girls, but Harry was quick to react.

"Alight!" he shouted over the noise the two girls were making "That's enough of that!"

When neither girl showed signs of backing down, Padma stepped forwards and seized Pansy around the middle and dragged her back. Pansy refused to relent though, and held on tightly to a fistful of Daphne's long blond hair.

Astoria sprang out from her position behind Daphne, grabbed Pansy's hand and began to forcefully prize her fist apart as the girl tried to extract herself for Padma's hold. Pansy managed to wrench an arm free, but it was grabbed by Tracey.

"Let go of me!" the Slytherin prefect.

"Let go of Daphne's hair and I might," retorted Tracey.

Rather than get involved himself, Draco turned to his two goons and raged "Don't just stand there, you idiots!"

Taking that as their cue, Crabbe and Goyle both jumped out of their seats simultaneously and made to join in.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" said Harry, warningly.

The two thugs paused for a moments, shared a look and then turned to face Harry.

"We don't take orders from you, Potter." said Crabbe in a menacing tone.

"Right," said Harry "I've had enough of this! Stupefy!"

Having suddenly drawn his wand, Harry caught everyone off guard and so Crabbe hit the floor of the compartment like a sack of potatoes. Goyle quickly joined him, and a moment later Pansy went limp in Padma's arms.

Draco was just reaching for his wand when he too was hit.

Harry stowed his wand again and looked to Padma "Prefect Patil, please escort these three to another compartment. And make sure that it is well away from this one. Then come back here, as I might need some help with these four. If you can find any other prefects, then ask them to come as well."

Padma nodded in response and turned to Tracey, Daphne and Astoria and said "Come on," gesturing towards the door.

All three walked from the room. Daphne, the last of the three to leave, paused next to Harry and looked him up and down, as though sizing him up, before following her sister and Tracey out of the compartment, Padma following on.

Harry slid the door shut and then turned to look over the four Slytherin students that remained.

Deciding to leave Crabbe and Goyle where they were for the time being, Harry heaved first Draco and then Pansy up into a sitting position on one of the seats, making a mental note as he did so to find a spell that could do this for him.

He took each of their wands, and then conjured ropes which quickly wound themselves around the duo.

For the first time ever, Harry was glad that he had been entered into the Tri Wizard Tournament the previous year, as stunning and rope conjuring spells were not normally taught until fifth year. Harry had learned both of them early in preparation for the tournament, and had now successfully used both to break up a fight.

He raised his wand again and revived the wizard and witch before him.

Pansy gave a groan before asking "What happened?"

"I was forced to stun the both of you," Harry replied "I was left with no other option in stopping your abhorrent behaviour."

Malfoy's face took on a tinge of red as anger bubbled up "When my father hears of this-"

"He will wonder what the hell his son was playing at when he jeopardised his position of prefect by acting in a manner he had been told not half an hour earlier been told would no longer be tolerated." Harry finished for him.

Malfoy wisely closed his mouth, though everything else about his demeanour promised that he would be doing everything possible to get his revenge.

Harry smirked at him before drawing himself up and beginning to speak "Now then, it is quite clear to me that you two obviously did not hear my speech earlier, so for your benefit, I will go through the key points again. I have been appointed by the Ministry of Magic to the position of Student Advisor at Hogwarts. In this capacity, I have the ability to assess the suitability of the prefects to carry out their duties in a fair, responsible and efficient manner. If a prefect either fails to perform their duties to a satisfactory level, or behaves in a manner unbecoming of a prefect, then that prefect will receive a strike against them. Should a prefect ever get three strikes against them, they lose their position. Is that clear?"

Neither one replied, they just glared back at him, shaking with anger.

"He asked you a question!" said an angry voice from by the door, which had slid open without Harry noticing.

Padma had come through for him, having successfully rounded up seven other prefects, and the Head Boy. It had been Hannah who had spoken. She was there next to Ernie, with Cho, Geoffrey Hooper, Eric Summerby, Bianca Dunstan and Maxwell Parkin making up the rest of the group.

"Harry, what's going on?" asked Rodger.

"These two," said Harry, gesturing towards Draco and Pansy "are a disgrace to their position. I'm just making sure that the fully understand the consequences of their behaviour before they are separated."

He turned back to the two Slytherins "Well, in all honesty for your behaviour I really should award each of you with three strikes right now. After all, you have just been seen to bully another student, fight with other students, call other students names, and attempt to undermine not only my authority, but that of another prefect as well. However, I will show leniency on you this time, and chalk it up to you not fully understanding the new situation. As such, you are each awarded only one strike, and will serve two detention periods with the caretaker. Until we get to Hogwarts, each of you will be placed in solitary confinement, and you are not permitted to join your fellow Slytherin prefects when they take their turn to patrol along the train."

He turned back to the other prefects and asked "Prefect Chang and Prefect Dunstan, please escort Parkinson to an empty compartment. I understand that it might be an inconvenience, but could you both then stand guard outside her door? Someone will be sent to relieve you in an hour. Oh, and she may not have anything from the snack cart."

Cho and Bianca both came forwards as Harry undid the ropes that were bound tightly around Pansy.

Cho gave Harry a sultry look before assisting Bianca in getting Pansy to her feet.

The Slytherin girl looked to Harry and asked "What about my wand?"

"I will hand it over to your head of house when I speak with him later. He will be the one to return it to you."

She offered up no reply, and instead allowed herself to be escorted from the compartment.

Harry pointed his wand towards Crabbe and revived him, followed closely by Goyle. And the two were stirring groggily, Harry took both their wands and then once again addressed the gathered prefects "Prefect Hooper and Prefect Summerby, please escort Crabbe to an empty compartment. Same rules that applied to Pansy apply here. Prefect MacMillan and Prefect Abbott, please escort Goyle to an empty compartment. Same rules apply.

The four prefects came forward and Geoffrey and Eric heaved Crabbe up onto his feet as Hannah and Ernie did the same with Goyle.

"Nice work, Harry." said Hannah as she and Ernie shoved Goyle towards the door.

"Don't be afraid to hex them if they become violent." Harry called after them.

He gave Malfoy one last look before turning to the three people remaining "Roger, Prefect Parkin, please escort this thing to a separate compartment. Again same rules apply. Roger, I know you've got other things to see to as Head Boy, but it'll only be for a few minutes. I just want a quick word with Prefect Patil, and then she will come and relieve you."

Roger nodded and stepped forwards as Harry cast a spell to free Draco from the ropes that bound him.

The two seventh years pulled Malfoy to his feet, but the boy quickly wrenched his arms free from their grasp. He gave Harry a cold, hard stare and practically hissed "This isn't over, Potter."

He turned and stormed out of the compartment, with Roger and Maxwell following on behind.

"I'm sure it isn't." said Harry as he watched them go. He was certain that the first chance he got, Draco would be writing and sending a letter to his dear father, complaining about mean ol' Harry Potter was picking on him and demanding that he speak with the Minister in order to fix it.

"Um," said Padma, who was standing behind him "You wanted to speak with me, Harry?"

"I certainly did," said Harry as he turned around to face her "First off, I heard what you said to Malfoy before I entered the compartment. Thank you for the show of confidence."

"Not a problem," replied Padma "You said you're here to help, and I believed that you could and would do so."

"Good," said Harry "Second, I would like to ask that you accompany me when I discuss the situation with the head of Slytherin house. I think that you know as well as I do what would happen if I went in there alone."

Padma nodded and replied "Makes sense I suppose. Should we bring in some of the others as well? Roger at least, given how he's Head Boy."

"Roger should do," said Harry "Let him know when you take over guard duty from him."

"I will," said Padma "Anything else?"

"Yes, after we're done with Snape, we're going to need to go and see your head of house."

"Professor Flitwick? Why?"

"I need to see him about granting you an official Prefect's Merit."

"A Prefect's Merit," Padma repeated "And what exactly would one of those be?"

"Pretty much the opposite of a strike." answered Harry "You did an excellent job, so you get a merit."

"And what if I get a strike after gaining a merit?" asked Padma.

"Then you lose the merit, but don't gain a strike. Think of it as basic addition and subtraction. You start at zero, a merit adds one, and a strike subtracts one."

"So if Pansy did something good, rather than gain a merit, she would lose her strike?"

"Correct."

Padma nodded thoughtfully for a few moments before asking "And what do three merits get you?"

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"Well, if three strikes mean that you lose you your prefect's badge then I imagine that something must happen when you get three merits."

"Good point," said Harry "I hadn't really thought of that."

"Then why give merits at all?"

"So people can lose their strikes."

"Ah. Got ya."

Harry thought for a few moments before saying "Maybe I should get vouchers or something. How about book tokens?"

"That might work for the Ravenclaws, but few others." replied Padma.

"Damn. Well, I'm sure I'll think of something."

"You'd better or we'll stage a coup."

"You wouldn't!"

"Wanna bet?"

"Don't you somewhere to be?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just keep it in mind Potter. We want to know what three merits get us, and we want that decision made by the end of the week."

Harry rolled his eyes, chuckling to himself as Padma left the compartment.

Once she was gone, Harry suddenly realised that that was the first proper conversation he had ever had with Padma, and yet he had felt completely at ease with her. More at ease, in fact, than he yet felt with either Susan or Hannah, and he had spent three weeks with them.

He supposed that it was down to the fact that Padma strongly resembled her twin sister, Parvati, whom Harry had known for four years.

But then… did he really know Parvati at all? Sure they had shared the same common room and many lessons together over the years, and he had even escorted her to the Yule Ball the previous Christmas, but he had hardly ever actually spoken to her at all, and the Ball had been a disaster.

Come to think of it, he had warmed up to Hannah surprisingly quickly as well. Although he knew her about as well as he did Susan, he had spent much more time with the red haired Hufflepuff…

This warranted further investigation, but not now though.

Deciding that he had done enough patrolling for now, Harry decided to head back to the compartment that he had been sharing with Susan and Hannah earlier. Susan deserved to know where he had sent her best friend, after all.

* * *

After the fiasco with the Slytherins, the rest of the trip was comparatively calm. Harry patrolled a few times, but there were no incidents. He came across Ron twice, but each of them ignored the other. Hermione tried several times to talk to him, but always seemed to lose her nerve and would leave without uttering a sound.

Apart from the odd stroll up and down the length of the train, Harry's only other job during the rest of the trip was to switch around which prefects stood guard over the four troublesome Slytherins. A good number of students appreciated Harry coming down hard on Draco, and that included a good few Slytherin students as well. They didn't yet understand Harry's new role, but were more than happy that it allowed him to knock Draco down a couple of pegs.

Beyond that the only interesting thing to happen was when Susan and Hannah had to physically restrain Harry from going and picking a new fight with Ron and Hermione.

It had started innocently enough, with Susan simply asking if he had used any diagnostic spells to determine that everything was okay with Hedwig.

Everything came up fine. Or at least it did until Harry discovered a myriad of tracking charms placed upon her. This caused him to wonder aloud if the Dumbledore Worshippers Club had tried to use Hedwig to track him down. Harry had always said that Hedwig was an exceptionally smart owl, and she proved this to be true when she bobbed her head in confirmation to his voiced thought.

Harry had, of course, gotten angry. And this came with a desire to punch Ron in the face and shout at Hermione.

Seeing his mood, Susan and Hannah both grabbed him as he made for the door and pulled him down onto the seat and wrestling with him until he calmed, something which was achieved by Hannah reminding him that he was punishing the Slytherins for exactly the same thing, so to do so himself now would be wildly inappropriate.

Harry had relented, but was still in a bad mood when the train finally pulled in at Hogsmeade Station.

On the platform Harry joined Hannah and the other prefects in making sure that all the first years made it towards the crowd gathering around Hagrid, who would lead them down to the boats that would carry them across the lake to the castle.

Once that was done Harry and Hannah made their way over to where Susan was waiting on them and they headed off towards the carriages which took the older students up to the castle.

As they went, Harry looked back over his shoulder and saw two pairs of Aurors stepping onto the train. Madam Bones had apparently come through on his idea to have a few Aurors do a security sweep of the train before the students' luggage was brought up to the castle.

He also picked out Pansy, being escorted by two prefects. Behind her Goyle was in a similar situation. He could not see where Malfoy or Crabbe were though.

As he turned back towards the carriages, he heard Hagrid's loud voice shout out "Alrigh' 'Arry?"

He pretended to not hear it and was soon sitting in a carriage with Susan and Hannah. They were quickly joined by Ernie Macmillan, Megan Jones, Justin Finch-Fletchley and, surprisingly, Cho, who squeezed in next to Harry and seemed to find the tight fit to be a perfectly good reason to push her body right up against Harry's, and rest her left hand on his right leg.

Despite his crush on Cho, Harry was actually uncomfortable being in this position with her. His discomfort must have shown on his face, because Susan and Hannah, who were sitting opposite to him, both wore matching smirks all the way up to the castle.

To be honest, Harry did not know how to respond to this new side to Cho. She was being very forward, and he was finding the situation rather awkward. He couldn't help but wonder if there was more to it than just her letting him know that she was interested in him.

The carriage was drawn up the winding path until, at last, they could see the castle that was their school, and would be home for them until next June.

Harry felt himself tense up. The train ride had been the opening round. The real fight was about to begin.

* * *

**A/N: So how was that? Harry has made his new position known to the students, now the school as a whole will have to face this new Boy-Who-Lived.**

**For those of you wondering about the Harry/Susan pairing, as you probably saw at the end of the chapter, they're not in that place yet. Give it time.**


	13. The Welcoming Feast

**Here we go with Chapter thirteen. Ten house points to whoever can point out the Big Bang Theory reference!**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 13: The Welcoming Feast

Upon passing through the doors to the Entrance Hall, the first thing that Harry heard was the sound of several second year Gryffindor girls screaming.

He did not have to look far to find the answer.

Peeves the poltergeist was welcoming the students back to the castle in the only way he knew how, with chaos. Last year it had been a barrage of water balloons. This year he had decided on throwing ink pots at the new arrivals.

As usual no staff were about to deal with the pest, so Harry supposed that it fell to him to do something.

"Peeves!" he yelled "Stop that now!"

The poltergeist turned to face him, a wide and sadistic grin on his face "Why, if it isn't Potty wee Potter! Thinks he can tell Peevesy what to do does he?"

"I don't think I can Peeves, I know I can." retorted Harry.

Peeves stuck out his tongue, blew a massive raspberry and then hurled one particularly large ink pot towards Harry.

However, the young wizard was prepared for this. From the first moment he had called out to Peeves to stop he had had his fingers clasped tightly around his wand. The moment Peeves made to throw the ink pot, Harry raised his wand and waved it through the air.

"_Depulso!"_

The ink pot came to a stop right in front of Harry's face and then shot back towards Peeves, smacking into him right between the eyes. The Poltergeist flipped over backwards twice before righting himself. Then he threw his sack of ink pots over into an empty corner and then raced away, making noises that sounded suspiciously like sobs.

"Wow." exclaimed Susan.

"Yeah." agreed Hannah

"To think that after all this time, that was all it took…" muttered Ernie.

"HARRY POTTER!"

All eyes turned to see Professor McGonagall, the deputy head of the school marching towards Harry looking rather cross.

"See ya, Harry." said Susan, making her escape.

"Later." added Hannah, following her.

"Traitors." Harry mumbled under his breath as the entire Hufflepuff contingent abandoned him to his fate.

Cho followed them, making sure to brush close to him as she passed him by.

Harry shook his head at her behaviour and was just bracing himself to deal with McGonagall when another, entirely different woman moved in to separate them.

"Good evening, Professor Umbridge," said Harry to the pink-cardigan-wearing, toad-faced monstrosity that now stood before him.

"Good evening, Mr Potter," Dolores Umbridge replied politely, and Harry was fairly certain that doing so was causing her to die a little inside "I just wanted a quick word before the feast begins."

McGonagall finally reached them and tapped the other woman on the shoulder with the roll of parchment that contained the names of the new first year students "Pardon me, Dolores, but I was just about to have a word with Mr Potter."

Umbridge turned her flabby face towards McGonagall and said "Not at all, Minerva. This will only take a moment."

McGonagall visibly bristled at being referred to by her first name, but turnabout was fair play.

Umbridge gestured with her arm and Harry followed her over to one side.

"How can I help you, Professor?" he asked once they were out of McGonagall's hearing range.

"I simply wished to know if there were any problems on the train?" the Professor replied.

"Nothing much," replied Harry "A few prefects had trouble accepting the new status quo, but I was able to make examples of them and the rest quickly fell into line. After that everyone was pretty well behaved."

"Very well," replied Umbridge "Please get your report on those prefects to me as soon as possible."

"Will do," replied Harry "I was forced to issue a strike against the two troublemakers, and will need to inform their Head of House after the feast. I trust that if I end up requiring assistance in that matter…?"

"Of course," agreed Umbridge "I imagine that some of the staff will have the same problems as some of the prefects to begin with. Never hesitate to ask for my help."

"Likewise," replied Harry "Oh, and before I forget, Prefect Patil of Ravenclaw House was very helpful in resolving the situation on the train, and has been awarded a merit for her actions."

"Very good," said Umbridge "That's what I like to hear. The more merits you can give out, Mr Potter, then the more it shows that we are winning."

Harry nodded in reply before asking "Was there anything else? Only Professor McGonagall's got a vein throbbing in her forehead from being kept waiting."

Umbridge turned slightly to look over her shoulder at the other woman. Seeing the scowl on McGonagall's face, Umbridge smiled and turned back to Harry before replying "Just one other thing, are you prepared for your speech?"

"All set to go." replied Harry.

"Good," said Umbridge "Carry on then, Mr Potter."

And with that she turned and walked towards the doors that led into the Great Hall, where the welcoming feast would shortly begin.

Harry felt rather dirty after having to be so polite to the old toad for so long.

McGonagall came over and snapped "I suppose it's alright to talk to you now is it Potter?"

"Of course, Professor," answered Harry.

"Good." she replied tersely "Now, first of all I would like to know what you think you were doing earlier when you confronted Peeves."

"I think that I was giving the sorry excuse for a phantom a taste of his own medicine," replied Harry.

"And why did you simply not vanish the ink pot after stopping it?" asked McGonagall "Why did you have to fire it back?"

"Because that is about the only thing that a bully like Peeves understands, Professor." replied Harry "He learned a long time ago that no matter what he does, all he will get is a stern talking to by one of the teachers, and maybe a few threats of exorcism by Filch, and then he can go back to causing havoc."

"It was a very irresponsible thing to do," said McGonagall "What if it had hit another student?"

"I had faith in my aim," retorted Harry "And had I hit another student I would have promptly apologised."

She regarded him with a steely gaze for a few moments longer before abruptly changing the topic of discussion "Where were you this summer, Potter?"

Harry blinked once before replying "I didn't think that my whereabouts during the holidays was any concern of the staff of this school, Professor."

The two stared at each other for a few moments longer before McGonagall spoke again "I have to go and greet the new first years now, but rest assured Potter, these matters are not settled. You will report to the Headmaster's office as soon as the feast is over."

"Actually that will not be possible, Professor McGonagall," replied Harry "Once the feast is over I have to have separate meetings with both Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick, and I will be cutting it close to curfew as it is. Perhaps we can reschedule?"

McGonagall's nostrils were flaring with anger now, and Harry knew that he was pushing her very close to the edge "I cannot fathom a reason why you would need to talk to either of them this early in the school year, but if you must talk with them, I will ask Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick to come to the Headmaster's office so that you can meet with them there as well."

"That might cause conflict-" began Harry, but McGonagall cut him off.

"This matter is not open for further discussion, Mr Potter. You will go to the Headmaster's office after the feast, and Professors Snape and Flitwick will be there to meet with you."

And with that she turned in a swish of tartan robes and stalked off to greet the new first year students.

Harry shook his head and turned towards the Great Hall. He hadn't thought that his respect for Minerva McGonagall could fall any lower, but she had just proven him wrong.

He thought back to some of the banking documents he had received from Gringotts and one of the many issues found there…

* * *

_Flashback_

"_Is it all making sense, Harry?" asked Sarah, a large cup of coffee in her hands as she joined Harry and the others sitting at the table._

"_I guess so," replied Harry, leafing through several pieces of parchment. Income from the family investments is added every month, and a third of the annual school fee is taken out every term, once after the summer holidays, once after the Christmas break and once after Easter. Once a year, near the end of summer there is an amount taken out of the trust fund by me to pay for my school things. That much is simple."_

"_And the rest?" asked Madam Bones._

"_Well, it appears that every month thirty five galleons are taken out of the trust fund, converted to Muggle money and put into my Uncle Vernon's account with Barclay's bank. That works out at around £174 per month that the Dursleys are getting out of me."_

"_That's not too bad for room and board," said Sarah "too bad they kept most of it for themselves and spent as little on you as possible."_

"_They always made out that I'm such a burden," said Harry sadly "Look, they even get paid for the months that I am at Hogwarts. And Gringotts charges my account a five galleon conversion fee every time they do this."_

"_Goblins like to earn themselves a nice bit of gold for every transaction." explained Madam Bones "Any other issues?"_

"_Several," replied Harry "Look at this one?" he turned the piece of parchment around and showed them. It was dated the 1__st__ February, 1994, and was a withdrawal for 475 galleons._

"_What on earth…?" muttered Madam Bones._

"_Are you sure that this wasn't some kind of annual withdrawal?" asked Sarah._

_Harry shook his head and replied "No other year has any amount of money withdrawn on the February 1__st__."_

"_That's a lot to go out in one go," said Madam Bones "And you would have been inside the castle when it happened." she looked at him "You didn't order anything through Owl Post did you?"_

"_No," replied Harry "And even if I had I'd have never spent that much in one go."_

"_Hang on," said Hannah from her position next to Susan at the kitchen counter "In third year you have to buy a new broom didn't you? After your Nimbus got smashed up by the Whomping Willow."_

"_Yeah, that's right," said Susan "You got a Firebolt, and it arrived just before your match against Ravenclaw, which would have been in early February."_

"_But I didn't buy the Firebolt," said Harry "It was a present."_

"_Could it have been bought with your money?" asked Sarah._

"_It was a Christmas present," said Harry "so the dates don't match up."_

"_So why was it all over the school well into January that you were still training on school brooms?" asked Susan._

_Harry shook his head and replied "I didn't have the broom. Hermione got it confiscated. She thought that Sirius Black might have sent it to me, and she told McGonagall, who agreed and took it for Professor Flitwick and Madam Hooch to look over. You know, to check for hexes and things."_

_Madam Bones frowned and said "There are several things wrong with that sentence Harry. First of all why was no one with any experience in dealing with the dark arts asked to look at your broom? Flitwick is an expert at duelling and a master of charms, but he is far from qualified to identify and dispel the worst the dark arts have to offer, and nor is Madam Hooch."_

"_Well, Professor McGonagall said that they stripped it right down…" said Harry, earning him wide eyed looks from everyone else._

"_They stripped it down?" repeated Sarah._

"_Yeah," replied Harry "Why?"_

"_So two school teachers took a state of the art school broom, stripped it right down to examine it in its entirety, and put it back together again?" asked Madam Bones._

"_Yeah, I suppose." said Harry._

"_You do realise, don't you," said Hannah "that at that time the Firebolt was a brand new broom just out on the market?"_

"_Yeah, so?"_

"_SO?" asked Hannah incredulously "So the Firebolt was the product of seven years' worth of in depth research intended to redefine the word "aerodynamic" undertaken by forty of the world's leading experts in broomstick design! Each and every twig in the broomtail is individually selected! The ash handle is treated with a diamond-hard polish! It has unsurpassable balance, and pin-point precision! There are unbreakable breaking charms on all of them. Any faults can only be fixed by the manufacturer, as they are the only ones with the skill to do so, and yet you believe that in, what, forty days two mere school teachers were able to completely strip one down, test it for any and all possible problems and then put it back in perfect working order without there being even the slightest hiccup with it? A simple "_Reparo_" can't fix that kind of thing, Harry."_

"_So you think that's where the money went?" asked Harry "They stripped it down, couldn't put it back together, and so sent it back to the manufacturer to have them do it, and then charged the cost of repairs to my account?"_

"_Yes," replied Hannah "Though given the time frame involved, I'd say that they just went and brought you a new broom with your money. I doubt even a team of experts could put a fully stripped down Firebolt back to full working order in about a month."_

_End Flashback_

* * *

Sarah had checked around the next day and discovered that the going price of a Firebolt broom about six months after its original release date was about 470-480 galleons.

Looking back of course, it all made sense. Professor Flitwick was a dueller and a charms master. He was not a broomstick designer. Nor, for that matter, was Madam Hooch, however much she might appear to be an expert in such things.

It was ridiculous to think that two school teachers could do what forty experts had taken seven years to perfect.

So with the broom he now owned not actually being the one that Sirius had given him, Harry really had to wonder just what else was a lie. A check for mid to late October 1991 also showed a withdrawal amounting to the approximate cost of a Nimbus 2000 broomstick at the time. Obviously it was foolish to think that McGonagall had gotten that state-of-the-art broom for him with her own money, but it would have been nice to have been told.

And there was also the matter of who was approving these purchases in his name, but that was a matter for a different time.

For now, it was time for Harry to put his game face on, as the waste material was about to hit the spinning turbine, as they say.

Most people had already seated themselves that their house tables and all were talking excitedly as they waited for the food to arrive so that the feast could start.

Harry made his way over to the Gryffindor table, pointedly ignoring Ron and Hermione as he went. He might be withdrawing himself from the house and becoming neutral in order to be more approachable to all students, but for now it was best if he just sat with them.

He didn't know what his plans for future seating arrangements at meal times would be, but he was thinking that he would join each house at different times, allowing himself to mingle and appear more approachable.

The sixth year Gryffindor prefects, Bianca Dunstan and Geoffrey Hooper were sitting together, but Bianca waved him over as soon as she spotted him and the pair made a space for him.

"We heard McGonagall shouting your name," said Geoffrey as Harry sat himself down "What happened?"

"Peeves was being a nuisance, so I fired one of his thrown ink pots back at him," explained Harry "McGonagall wasn't too happy."

Bianca gave a snort and said "She never is."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"She doesn't approve of anyone other than a teacher doing what should be a teacher's job," replied Bianca "Sometimes I get the impression that she feels that a prefect's sole purpose is to be the one to run and get a teacher whenever trouble pops its head up."

"Well, if there had been a teacher there to do the job then I wouldn't have had to do it for them," said Harry.

"If a teacher was there then nothing would have been done at all," said Geoffrey "None of them will admit it, but they have absolutely no control over Peeves. Not even Dumbledore."

"Professor Lupin seemed pretty good at dealing with him," said Harry "The first defence class I had with him, we saw Peeves stuffing chewing gum into a key hole. Professor Lupin used a spell that dislodged the gum from the key hole and wedged it up Peeves' nose."

"Now that's something I would have paid to have seen," said a female voice.

Harry looked up and saw that Katie Bell, one of the chasers for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team had just taken a seat opposite him. Like Bianca and Geoffrey, she was a sixth year student.

"Have a good summer, Katie?" asked Bianca.

Katie shrugged her shoulders and replied "It was okay, I suppose. Apart from that bit where I broke up with Lee."

"Oh no!" exclaimed Bianca "What happened?"

"Come on girls," protested Geoffrey "Can't you save this for your dorm room and spare us guys?"

Katie and Bianca both stuck their tongues out at him before turning to each other and beginning a conversation that began by discussing Katie's problems with Lee Jordan and would soon have dissolved into a moan fest about anything wrong with every man everywhere were it not for the doors to the Great Hall opening and Professor McGonagall leading two lines of frightened looking first years towards the head table.

"Saved by the firsties." muttered Geoffrey under his breath.

Harry grinned, but quickly forced his face to become neutral as both Katie and Bianca turned to glare at them.

They all listened dutifully as the school's Sorting Hat sang a song about the history of the school, how the founders parted and urging them all to unite together, before the sorting ceremony began.

Euan Abercrombie was the first student to be called upon, and he was sorted into Gryffindor. From then it took a good forty minutes for the hat to sort the rest.

Harry noted that there seemed to be a few more new arrivals this year than in years before. There were certainly more than in his year group, which consisted of around forty kids. This new lot seemed to consist of almost double that.

He supposed that his year being so small in numbers was due mostly to the effects of the first was against Voldemort. Those in his year, the one above and the one below were born in the last few years of the war, when Voldemort and his Death Eaters were at the height of their powers, and not far off of claiming total victory.

This new group were obviously the beginnings of a population recovery.

Harry felt his stomach tighten as he thought of the fact that Voldemort was now back to physical form, and had at least thirty followers at his side once again. He thought of how he had tried to tell the world this but…

'_No'_ he told himself _'Now is not the time to think on that. This is what is important now.'_

Finally Rose Zeller was sorted into Hufflepuff House, Harry saw Susan, Hannah and their friends cheering for her as she joined them at the Hufflepuff table, and Professor McGonagall took away the Sorting Hat and the three legged stool on which it stood.

At the staff table, Professor Dumbledore stood up from his seat, a high backed golden one situated right in the middle, and issued his usual start of term greeting.

"To our newcomers, welcome! To our old hands, welcome back! There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"

And excited murmur swept through the hall as plates and bowls filled to overflowing with all manner of food appeared up and down the lengths of every table, accompanied by innumerable jugs of pumpkin juice.

As those around him began helping themselves to a wide array of meats, potatoes, vegetables, sauces and gravies, Harry took out his wand and began casting a few spells around himself.

Katie's fork, on which was speared a piece of chicken, paused halfway to her mouth as she stopped to watch Harry. After the fifth spell she found herself asking "What are you up to Harry?"

"Diagnostic charms," replied Harry "I am checking to see if any of the food is laced with potions."

"Find anything?" asked Geoffrey, setting his knife and fork down without taking a bite.

"Not much," replied Harry "The pumpkin juice has a mild calming draught in it. But I suspect that it's to help the first years to relax a little and allow everyone else to calm down some from the excitement of being back. Nothing all that sinister and so safe to drink."

"I don't think I like the idea of there being a potion in my drink no matter how benign it is." said Bianca.

"It could be much worse." replied Harry, tucking his wand back into his pocket. He nodded his head down the table to where the first and second year students were sitting. The second years were getting a little rowdy, and a good number of the first years were looking quite nervous about being in this new sitting.

"Looking at that lot, I can't say I blame the staff for giving them a little something to calm them down."

"I guess." muttered Bianca.

"Everything else is clear, by the way." added Harry, spearing a pork chop and putting it onto his plate, followed by a few roast potatoes and a spoonful of mashed carrot and swede.

"So why the paranoia, Harry?" asked Katie.

"Can it really be called paranoia when they actually are out to get you?" asked Harry.

"Who's '_they_'?" asked Bianca.

"That is information that I am not currently at liberty to divulge," replied Harry "But let me put it this way, after what happened my first, second, third and fourth years here, I am taking no chances."

"The man has a point," agreed Katie "I mean there was that Troll, your broom going haywire, people being petrified, the Dementors, that Hungarian Horntail…" she paused for a moment, frowned and then asked "Why exactly did you come back at all, Harry?"

"Simple," answered Harry "I like my enemies where I can see them."

The three sixth years all shared a look of surprise as Harry speared a roast potato onto his fork and took a bite.

Soon the main course was done with and all of that food vanished, only to be replaced by puddings of every imaginable variety, from fruits, ice creams and creams to cakes, biscuits and pies.

As everyone else went to tuck in, Harry took out his wand again.

A moment later he called out "Stop!" a little too loudly for his liking, but thankfully the general noise in the hall drowned it out for most people.

"What's the matter?" asked Geoffrey.

"Nobody touch the treacle tart," said Harry "I don't know what's in it, but it can't be anything good. Everything else is fine."

"Isn't that, like, your absolute favourite dessert?" asked Katie.

Harry gave her a pointed look, to which her eyes widened and she let out a soft "Oh" of comprehension.

Harry took one on the red napkins off of the table and collected a piece of treacle tart in it.

He then conjured up a small paper bag and charmed it to be unbreakable and impervious to liquids before slipping the napkin covered slice of tart inside and sealing it shut. He then slipped it into a pocket on the inside of his robes.

He looked around him and gave a nervous looking Katie a wink before helping himself to a bowl of chocolate ice cream.

Before long the feast was over, and Dumbledore was standing up once again in order to make his start of term speech.

"Now that we are all fed and watered, I would like to just take a few moments to go through the usual start of term notices before we all head off to our beds for the night. First years please note that the forest in the grounds is out of bounds to all students, and some of our older students could do with remembering that too.

"As usual Mr Filch the Caretaker has asked me to remind you all that magic is not permitted to be used in the school corridors. There is also a list of items that are banned from the castle, and the full list can be found fixed to the door of Mr Filch's office, which is located just off of the Entrance Hall.

"And finally we have two changes in staffing this year. The lovely, pink haired young woman sitting between Professor Snape and Professor Trelawney is Professor Tonks. She has just recently completed her training to become an Auror and has kindly consented to assist us here at Hogwarts by taking on the challenging position of Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. Good luck, Professor."

Tonks stood, gave a polite bow and then sat back down.

The students applauded her quite loudly, with many of the older boys being the most vocal. Fred and George Weasley in particular made a spectacle of themselves by wolf-whistling loudly and unabashedly.

Harry had to agree that she was rather easy on the eyes, especially when compared to most of the other female members of staff. But he had to remember that she was one of Dumbledore's followers, so he would really need to watch himself around her.

Once the noise died down, Professor Dumbledore continued "And the woman in the pink cardigan sitting between Professor McGonagall and Professor Sinistra is Professor Umbridge, who has agreed to take leave from her job in the Minister's office at the Ministry of Magic in order to teach History of Magic after Professor Binns decided that it was time for him to pass on."

The applause that followed was not as loud as the one that Tonks received, but it was certainly louder than Harry had expected. It seemed that a few people were looking forward to seeing what History of Magic lessons would be like when they were not taught by a ghost with a monotone voice.

Dumbledore continued "Try-outs for the house Quidditch teams will take place on-"

"_Hem, hem."_

Dumbledore broke off and turned towards Professor Umbridge. Given that she was so short it was not immediately clear that she had gotten to her feet, but as she began to walk out from behind the staff table, it became apparent that she was intending to make a speech.

'_Not now!' _thought Harry '_Wait for Dumbledore to finish first. Interrupting him only gives everyone a bad impression.'_

As she walked along the front of the head table, Professor Umbridge began her speech "Thank you, Headmaster, for those kind words of welcome. I must confess that it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts again, and seeing so many bright and happy faces looking up at me. I'm sure that we are all going to be very good friends."

Harry cringed. She was patronising them. That was just about the worst thing she could be doing.

Already she had lost the attention of about as fifth of the students, and Harry found his own attentiveness ebbing away.

Professor Umbridge went on to talk a great deal about the importance of education, of passing skills and traditions down through to the next generation. Then something warning against progress just for the sake of progress, followed by something like "preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected and pruning practices that ought to be prohibited."

Harry found himself drawn back when she went on with "I am here at the request of the Ministry in order to perfect the teaching of History of Magic at this school, something which, I am afraid has fallen behind the times. If there is anything about this that you wish to discuss, then my door is always open. For that matter, if you have anything else that you wish to discuss, any quibbles or reservations about how the school is being run, then by all means come and have a chat, and we shall see what we can do about it.

"Or failing that, there is another that you can talk to. In response to several concerns raised by concerned individuals, the Ministry of Magic has seen fit to pass Educational Decree Number 25, creating the post of Student Advisor. This school's very own Harry Potter had very kindly agreed to take up this position, and I will step aside and allow him to explain his new position. Mr Potter?"

All eyes turned to Harry, who swallowed hard and then stood.

'_This is it!' _he thought to himself.

"Good evening, everyone." he began "I won't keep you long, and I am sure that like me you are longing for your beds.

"The good Professor is correct. The Ministry of Magic has created the position of Student Advisor, and I have consented to take up that position here at Hogwarts. What does that mean exactly? Well, to put it simply, I am now here to be on your side. Got a problem? Come to me and we'll see if we can resolve it. And I mean any problem. Fighting with your dorm mates? Fine, come on over and talk. Feel like you're being treated unfairly by a prefect? Not a problem. Come to me and we'll work together to sort things out. Getting the impression that a teacher is being deliberately unfair to you? Well I am here to help you fight your corner.

"At the same time, if you have something that you want to bring up with the staff, again come to me. I will be attending all staff meetings and will be acting as your voice when I am there."

Graham Montague, a sixth year Slytherin who played for his house Quidditch team chose that moment to stand up and demand "And what makes you think that any of us will come to a stupid Gryffindor like you Potter?"

Harry smirked and replied "I am actually glad that you asked that, Graham. You see, in order to work effectively in my new position, the Wizarding Examinations Authority decided, and I agree, that I would need to be a completely neutral party. As such, as of this moment, I am no longer a member of Gryffindor house. I will no longer wear their badge or their colours, I will no longer sleep in their dorms-"

"What about Quidditch?" asked Katie in a small voice.

"Sorry Katie, but yes, I will no longer play Quidditch for Gryffindor house. Nor, for that matter, will I be playing for any other house. I will be neutral, devoted to no house over any other."

"How can we be sure of that?" demanded Theodore Nott, a Slytherin in Harry's year "You wasted no time in doing Malfoy and Parkinson a bad turn on the train."

"Prefect Malfoy and Prefect Parkinson were found to be behaving in a manner unbefitting students of their position and so were punished for it," replied Harry "I don't know what they have been telling you throughout the course of dinner, but I assure you that any prefect behaving in such a way, be they Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Gryffindor would have received the same punishment.

"In my time at Hogwarts I have seen several students appointed to the position of prefect simply because they were a favourite of their Head of House. And I have seen several prefects who have abused their position for their own gains. That ends now. I have been granted the authority to step in if a prefect is acting out of line, and I have been granted the power to punish any prefect that goes too far.

"Actions have outcomes. It is high time that people were held accountable for theirs."

And with that Harry sat down again, to complete silence.

Professor Dumbledore, who looked paler than anyone could ever remember seeing him before, got to his feet and announced "You are all dismissed."

"See you guys later," said Harry to Katie, Bianca and Geoffrey "I've got a few people to round up, and then we're all going for a meeting in Dumbledore's office. At Professor McGonagall's insistence, of course."

He got up and left.

Harry hurried over to the Ravenclaw table. He couldn't reach Padma through the jostling crowd of students who were evacuating their seats, but by waving his arms about he caught her attention and she fought her way over to him.

"Change of plans," said Harry once they were face to face "Dumbledore and McGonagall want to see me in the Headmaster's office. Flitwick and Snape are going to be there too, so we're going to do this all at once."

"Not a problem," replied Padma "Need some help rounding up the Slytherins?"

"That would be appreciated," answered Harry "Could you round up Daphne, Tracey and Astoria? I'm gonna go grab Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle."

"Good luck," said Padma as she turned and headed off towards the three Slytherin girls.

Draco Malfoy elbowed a third year hard in the side as he shoved his way towards the doors. He was supposed to be showing the first years down to the Slytherin Common Room in the Dungeons, but he was in a foul mood. Anyway, if the little shits couldn't keep up with the crowd of other Slytherins then why should it be his problem?

He had just made it to the doors when he found his way blocked.

"Get out of it Potter!" he snapped.

"I'm going nowhere without you, Malfoy," retorted Harry "Not until we've sorted out your punishment."

"I thought what happened on the train was my punishment."

"Nope. That was because I had just caught you red handed and knew that you could not be trusted to not go out seeking revenge. Your solitary confinement was for everyone's benefit. Now come on, we're going to have a word with your head of house."

Malfoy's eyes lit up, imagining all the insults that Professor Snape would throw at Harry before kicking him out of his office and sweeping this whole mess under the rug like he always did.

"Really?" he asked, his voice filled with hope.

"We most certainly are," said Harry "In the Headmaster's office. With the Headmaster. And the Deputy Headmistress. Oh, and Professor Flitwick."

Malfoy seemed to wilt right before Harry's eyes.

Harry looked around and saw the other three that he was looking for "Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle, you too."

"What?" demanded Parkinson.

"Meeting with your head of house and three other members of staff… hang on."

He looked around and spotted who he was looking for "Professor Umbridge?"

The new History of Magic Professor hurried over "What is it, Mr Potter?"

"Professor McGonagall has forced a change in how my meeting with the Head of Slytherin House will occur. It will now be taking place in the Headmaster's office, with Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick in attendance, as well as Professor Snape. I was just wondering if you would consent to come up and add a bit of weight to the proceedings, otherwise it will only be myself and Prefect Patil fighting our corner."

"I'd be happy to," replied Madam Umbridge "Let's see if we can get this all sorted out, shall we?"

"Good," said Harry, looking around "Ah, here they come now. Padma, over here!"

Padma made her way over, followed by a rather reluctant looking trio of Slytherin girls.

"Are these the victims?" asked Professor Umbridge.

"Yes they are," replied Harry "Let's get this over with. I'd like to get these three to the Hospital Wing for a check over."

"We don't need to go the Hospital Wing, Potter." said Daphne.

"Are you sure?" asked Harry "It was quite a scuffle, after all."

He gave the three girls a very subtle wink. The only others to see it were Padma and Crabbe, and of them Padma was saying nothing and Crabbe was too dumb to do so.

Tracey was the one to catch on first "Actually, I hurt my wrist when I was trying to get Pansy to let go of Daphne. I think that I would like it looked at."

Daphne looked at her friend, realised what she was doing, turned back to Harry and said "Well, I suppose my nose should be looked at after it was hit so hard."

Astoria nodded in agreement.

"Well that's settled then," said Harry pleasantly.

"Mr Potter," said a voice, and they all turned around to see Professor McGonagall standing there "Kindly follow me; I will escort you to your meeting in the Headmaster's office."

"Okay," said Harry "Come on you lot."

McGonagall looked surprised and said "Surely there's no reason for everyone here to attend."

"Actually there is," said Harry "Malfoy and Parkinson are the ones who brought shame onto their positions, Crabbe and Goyle were assisting them, the Greengrass sisters and Miss Davis were the victims, Prefect Patil was the one to alert me to the problem, and Professor Umbridge has kindly consented to accompany us as we inform the senior staff of this little situation."

McGonagall sighed and relented "Oh, very well. Come on, all of you."

Dumbledore, Flitwick and Snape did not come out of the hall to join them, and so must have taken a different route up to the Headmaster's office.

McGonagall led them right up to the stone gargoyle, which leapt aside once it heard the password (cockroach cluster) and let them up the spiralling staircase behind.

When they reached the door, she knocked, and from within the voice of the Headmaster called out "Enter!"

* * *

**A/N - So how was that? To be honest, I was a little bit worried about how to write this chapter, but then I just started typing and it seemed to just flow onto the page. Been a while since that happened.**

**Sorry that the Snape confrontation wasn't in this chapter, but I think I'll save that for next time. Hope you enjoyed it. See you for the next chapter!**


	14. In the Headmaster's Office

**So here it is. Finally we are at the big confrontation chapter. Everyone seems to be really looking forward to this, so hey, no pressure on me, right?**

**I will say this though, for those of you who were looking forward to Harry ranting and raving at Dumbledore about things such as his Gringotts accounts and family books, that stuff is not here. As was stated by Madam Bones in Chapter 2, they are building an airtight case against Dumbledore, aiming to hit him with everything at once. Harry ranting about those things now will give the game away and allow Dumbledore to work on covering his tracks. Both Dumbledore and Snape need to remain at Hogwarts so that a case can be made against them. Like Harry said in the previous chapter, he likes his enemies where he can see them!**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 14: In the Headmaster's Office.

Albus Dumbledore was most put out by recent events. Things lately had not been going his way, and he was not used to that.

It began back at the end of the last school term, when the Minister of Magic, one Cornelius Fudge, had outright dismissed his claims that Lord Voldemort had returned to physical form.

Alright, so he had offered absolutely no proof of this fact whatsoever (other than having Severus show off the Dark Mark tattoo on his arm) but that was beside the point! He, Albus Dumbledore, had believed it to be true, and that ought to be good enough for everybody (as Minerva had once so eloquently put it.)

But no! With his old buddy Lucius listed as one of those supposedly reformed Death Eaters accused of attending the Dark Lord's rebirth, Fudge had gone on the defensive, and sought to turn Dumbledore into public enemy number one.

Of course that could not do, especially when they threatened to kick Dumbledore out of his position of Chief Warlock to the Wizengamot and subject both his position as Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and his role as Headmaster at Hogwarts School to intense scrutiny.

Dumbledore did not like people looking into his dealings too much. Only he, after all, had the ability to see the big picture. Only he could see how things should be done in order to attain the Greater Good. What others would see as being heinous crimes were actually, in the grand scheme of things, nothing more than necessary evils.

Too many people would fail to understand such things, of course. They would fail to see how keeping Snape within the castle was more important than giving students a fair and decent learning environment for their potions lessons. They would fail to comprehend how imperative it was to bring the Philosopher's Stone to Hogwarts in order to lure out Voldemort. They would fail to understand why he sent Harry Potter off to live with his neglectful relatives, and why he sent him back there every summer.

They would fail to understand because they had no concept of the Greater Good.

And that failure would ultimately lead to disaster if they were allowed to go through with their plans.

So Dumbledore had back-tracked a little. He had withdrawn his comments about Voldemort's return, and allowed Harry to take the fall. In this way he had gotten the Ministry, the school governors and the International Confederation of Wizards to back off, allowing him to covertly reform the Order of the Phoenix without raising suspicion.

Unfortunately allowing Harry to take the fall without telling him had since backfired, and quite spectacularly so.

Firstly the boy had somehow talked his way out of his trial. And then he had simply disappeared! He did not return home to his Muggle relatives in Little Whinging. He did not go to the house of a friend. There had been absolutely no sign of him in Diagon Alley all summer long, and there wasn't even a record of him leaving the Ministry that day.

Dumbledore had found several leads, but all of them turned up absolutely nothing. Worse, both Minister Fudge and Madam Bones appeared to be in the know and they weren't telling, no matter how much he insisted. Neither could be swayed by adulation of him, and neither could be intimidated by his power.

It was frustrating.

Then to cap it all, one of his spies within the Ministry, a young Auror named Nymphadora Tonks had gotten herself caught snooping around outside the courtroom where Harry's trial had taken place and had subsequently been kicked off of the Auror force.

That had actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, though. When the Minister had attempted to crowbar his lackey Dolores Umbridge into Hogwarts using the vacant Defence Against the Dark Arts post, Dumbledore had been able to block his attempts by giving the role to Tonks.

Unfortunately this had not stopped Fudge. Somehow he had gotten Griselda Marchbanks of the Wizarding Examinations Authority to go against him and remove Professor Binns from his teaching position at the school.

Not only that, they had also created legislation to guarantee that Umbridge would take over the vacant position of History Professor after Binns was removed.

Since then Dumbledore had been dreading the damage that Umbridge would be able to do to his carefully laid plans, and he had worked hard to come up with a few contingencies.

There was one thing, however, that he had not been prepared for. Harry Potter working for the Ministry, in a role that they apparently sponsored, was not something that he had seen coming even in his wildest speculations.

For whatever reason the Ministry had seen fit to give Harry a position of power over not only his fellow students, but also over the prefects. It was a position that was almost akin to Head Boy, only apparently more-so.

Dumbledore had, of course, planned to confront Harry as soon as he returned to the school, but this news changed things, especially as it seemed that Harry had already been exercising his newly obtained power against his enemies.

He would have to tread carefully here, as he had no real grasp over the entire situation. Antagonising Harry too much might result in more interference from the Ministry, but at the same time Harry could not be allowed too much free rein, as he had the potential to be just as damaging to Hogwarts as Umbridge.

If not more so.

Harry's desired meetings with both Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape meant that both of those men were now in the Headmaster's office with Dumbledore so that all three meetings could be held at once.

With any luck their combined force, along with that provided by Professor McGonagall would be enough to derail Harry in his mission without doing too much damage.

A knock sounded at the door and Dumbledore put on his best grandfatherly expression before calling out "Enter!"

His grandfatherly expression quickly dropped when Minerva entered his office accompanied not only by Harry Potter, but another eight students _and_ the newly instated Professor Umbridge.

Deciding to deal with the main problem first, he addressed the woman in pink.

"Professor Umbridge, what brings you here?"

"Mr Potter requested my presence," she replied in her sickly sweet tone of voice "To assist him the first time he deals with a head of house regarding the discipline of a prefect. Or in this case two."

"And what biased drivel had Potter been spouting as he attempts to victimise the students of my house?" asked Snape, his lip curled in a sneer.

"I'll be the first to admit it," said Harry "in this case there were Slytherin victims. However, it was also Slytherins who were the antagonists."

He gestured towards Padma and continued "Prefect Patil here discovered Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe and Goyle behaving in an intimidating manner towards the Greengrass sisters and Miss Davies. Malfoy even went so far as to hit Davies. When Prefect Patil went to intervene, as was her responsibility as an on-duty prefect, they behaved in a very disrespectful manner towards her. When I joined them, the four antagonistic Slytherins decided to take things to another level, with Parkinson getting into a physical confrontation with the other girls. Crabbe and Goyle attempted to join in while Malfoy went for his wand."

"And how was the situation resolved?" questioned Professor Flitwick.

"I took it upon myself to stun and bind all four of the antagonists, and had Prefect Patil escort the other three girls to a separate compartment before rounding up a few other prefects to assist me with dealing with the remaining Slytherin students. In the end all four of them were escorted to separate compartments, and other prefects kindly gave up some of their personal time to stand guard over them."

Snape was seething "You cannot go around treating students in _MY_ house like that!"

"Actually I can," replied Harry "They were judged to be a threat and so I co-ordinated the prefects in neutralising them for the remainder of the journey. As I just explained to Malfoy down in the Great Hall, their solitary confinement was not for their punishment, but for the protection of the other students. Their punishment is what a wished to discuss with you, Professor Snape."

Seeing that the man was about to bite out a verbal attack against Harry, Dumbledore cut in, asking Padma "Would you agree with Mr Potter's version of events, Miss Patil?"

She was obviously a bit nervous at being questioned by Professor Dumbledore directly, but Padma still managed to reply "I would, Professor. The emotional and physical well-being of the three girls to my left was clearly at risk when I decided to intervene. I am lucky that the Student Advisor arrived to offer me some assistance, as it was clear that the other four had no intentions of backing down."

Dumbledore studied her for a minute, his eyes twinkling slightly. Harry barely kept himself from scowling, having been warned that such a thing was a rare sign of Legillimency. Although Dumbledore would find nothing in Padma's mind to contradict their version of events, Harry still made a mental note to help Padma learn the basics of Occlumency. One could not be too careful after all.

The Headmaster took his gaze off of Padma, looked to the other three Slytherins in the room and asked "And you? Do you three agree with this version of events?"

After getting three nods in reply he turned to Harry and asked "Which other prefects were involved?"

"Abbott, MacMillan, Chang, Hooper, Summerby, Dunstan and Parkin," replied Harry "The Head Boy was there as well. Would you like to question them?"

"No," said Dumbledore "No, that will not be necessary." He turned to the group of four "And what of your version of events?"

Neither Malfoy nor Parkinson said anything in reply. Crabbe and Goyle said nothing either, though it was debatable whether or not they would have understood the question.

Harry smiled slightly. It appeared that Draco Malfoy might have actually learned his lesson.

"Very well," said Dumbledore "The four of you have served punishment enough. You may go."

The four exchanged looks of glee and made to leave.

Harry could barely believe what he had just heard and spoke up "No, they may not go. As I said, their solitary confinement on the train was for the protection of the other students, not to be their punishment."

"Be that as it may," said Dumbledore "you do not have the final word on this-"

"Actually I do," replied Harry.

He reached into his robes and pulled out the roll of parchment containing the Ministerial Decree that he had read out in the prefects' compartment on the train. He quickly quoted the line about being able to reprimand prefects who behaved inappropriately.

"And what then do you recommend?" asked McGonagall.

"I have already issued Malfoy and Parkinson with one strike each. Incidentally obtaining three such strikes will mean that they will lose their badge. In addition to that, I recommend a loss of twenty house points each and a week of detentions assisting Hagrid in mucking out the Hippogriff paddock. Crabbe and Goyle too."

"Now see here Potter-" began Snape, but Umbridge cut across him.

"Tragic though it may be that this has happened to the children of two such upstanding houses, I myself and the Minister fully support this punishment. Mr Malfoy and Miss Parkinson were caught behaving in a manner entirely unbecoming of a prefect. Serving a deserved punishment should make them think twice about such behaviour in the future."

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair looking thoughtful. Finally he said "Very well. The punishment shall stand."

"Headmaster, you cannot possibly allow Potter to get away with this!" shouted Snape "He's only trying to deduct as many points from Slytherin house as he possibly can."

"That is enough Severus," Dumbledore replied warningly. He turned to the four troublemakers "You will be informed when you will serve your detentions. You may leave."

As the group of four made their way towards the door, Umbridge asked "Will you be ensuring that these four make it back to their dormitories safely, Professor Snape?"

The man glared at her as Dumbledore said "I'm afraid that I still require Professor Snape's presence."

"Oh, are we done here?" asked Harry "If you've got a meeting with Professor Snape scheduled then we can postpone ours and I'll meet with Professor Flitwick in his office."

"Professor Snape is here as a part of my meeting with you," replied Dumbledore.

"Didn't realise," said Harry "I was operating under the assumption that I was to have a quick meeting with two of the heads of house regarding their students before having a meeting with the Headmaster and the deputy. I did not realise that you wished for the other heads of house to attend the main meeting. Perhaps someone ought to go and find Professor Sprout."

"That will not be necessary…" began Dumbledore before Harry cut him off.

"Why? If Professor Snape's presence is required in out meeting, and I can think of no reason for him to be other than is his role as head of Slytherin house, then logic dictates that Professor Sprout must be here too. And, of course, that Professor Flitwick should remain after I have discussed Prefect Patil with him."

Dumbledore regarded him with a piercing gaze. Harry saw the familiar twinkle in the man's eyes and made sure that his occlumency shields were up. He would not have been able to block out Dumbledore if the man had done a proper attempt at reading his mind, but a surface scan like Dumbledore was doing now was easily deflected by his shields.

Finally Dumbledore seemed to relent. He turned away from Harry and asked "Would you escort these three as well, Professor Snape?" He was referring, of course, to Daphne, Astoria and Tracey.

"Oh, they won't be going back to their dormitories tonight," said Harry "All three will need to visit the Hospital Wing following the fighting. Prefect Patil can escort them there after the two of us have talked with Professor Flitwick."

Professor Snape glared at him but wisely decided to do no more than that. He gave a stiff but courteous nod to Dumbledore before following the four troublemaking Slytherins out of the room.

Harry had expected a lot more arguing to occur, but then Draco had probably realised that he was not going to get much sympathy from anyone other than Snape or Pansy. He would probably begin penning a letter to his father the moment he got back to the Slytherin common room.

To be honest his dealing with Professor Snape had gone better than he had ever hoped. It seemed that Dumbledore's insistence at a meeting had a silver lining to it, resulting in Snape keeping himself in better check than normal.

The presence of Professor Umbridge probably helped too.

As the door closed behind Snape, Professor Flitwick spoke up "What is it that you desired to speak to me about, Mr Potter?"

"It was just to inform you that Prefect Patil here has been awarded a merit," replied Harry "Her behaviour on the train today was exemplary, and she is a credit to her not only those of her position but also her house and the school as a whole. A merit does of course come with twenty house points."

"Splendid!" said Professor Flitwick with a chuckle "I can see that I made the correct choice in giving you that badge Miss Patil, unlike others."

"Thank you," replied Padma. She, like Harry was thinking that Professor Flitwick might not have been referring solely to Snape's choice of Malfoy and Parkinson for prefect status.

Flitwick hopped down from his seat and said "If that is all, Mr Potter, I shall assist Miss Patil in escorting these three young ladies to the Hospital Wing before ensuring that she herself returns to Ravenclaw tower safely."

"Thank you for your time, Professor Flitwick." said Harry politely.

They all watched as the vertically challenged charms professor escorted the four students out of the Headmaster's office.

Then it was just the four of them. Harry and Umbridge on one side, Dumbledore and McGonagall on the other.

"This won't take long, Professor Umbridge," said Dumbledore "there is no reason for you to stay."

"Nor is there any reason for Professor McGonagall to stay." replied Umbridge.

The transfiguration professor drew herself up and replied "I am here because Mr Potter is a member of my house."

"Actually I'm not," replied Harry "Remember? I just announced it in the Great Hall when the feast ended."

McGonagall glared at him before responding "Then I am here as the Deputy Headmistress."

"And Professor Umbridge is here to make sure that you fully comprehend the Ministry's position on this matter." replied Harry.

"Very well," said Dumbledore wearily "Harry, why did you feel it necessary to claim your new position?"

"I already explained that down in the Great Hall" replied Harry "There have been too many prefects in the past that either did not bother doing their job or abused their position. I intend to weed them out and take any actions against them that are necessary. At the same time I will help the good prefects where I can, and assist my fellow students where required."

"You do not need to do this, Harry," said Dumbledore "If there are problems with the prefects, or any other student, then the teachers are there to handle them. That's what they are there for."

"You're right," said Harry "That is what they are there for. Unfortunately I have four years' worth of evidence that proves that the teachers do not do that job. And most of that evidence centres on the four students that Professor Snape just escorted out of the room, as well as Professor Snape himself of course."

"Professor Snape has my complete trust-" Dumbledore began, but Harry cut him off.

"That may be good enough for you, Headmaster, but it isn't for me."

"Nor for the Ministry," added Umbridge "There have been more complaints about that man registered with the Wizarding Examinations Authority than all your other current members of staff combined, and most of them have been here for a lot longer than Severus Snape has."

"Certain staff and pupils have been allowed far too much free rein, Professor," said Harry "and other members of staff have left a lot to be desired in helping the other students deal with these issues. That is why I have my new role, to help those who no longer feel that they can go to the teachers with their problems."

"If students do not come to us, then we cannot be expected to help them," said McGonagall.

"There are reasons that they do not come to you," replied Harry "They need someone, Professor, and in my time here I have time and again been shown that going to a teacher proves to be nothing more than fruitless."

Seeing that McGonagall had no answer to that, Dumbledore tried to change his approach by asking a different question "Why do you feel that the Ministry saw fit to give this position to you specifically, Harry?"

"Mr Potter was chosen because the Ministry believes him to be the best candidate available for the job," said Umbridge, answering for Harry "And it was he, after all, who brought the need for such a role as the one he now has to the attention of the Ministry. We also believe that, through his excellent performance when he represented this school in the Tri-Wizard Tournament he has shown himself to be an exemplary student that others should be able to respect."

"I will not stand for the Ministry using a student in my care for their own purposes." said Dumbledore.

"But I'm not," said Harry "I get paid a salary for my role."

"How much are you being paid?" asked McGonagall.

"That is between me and the Ministry" replied Harry "as it is they, and not the school, that pays me. And of course this role will look good when I eventually apply for a full time job after I finish school."

"And how do you plan to fit these new responsibilities around your studies?" asked Dumbledore.

"Well the Prefects and Head Boy and Girl seem to manage alright," said Harry "Of course I won't be having to attend Quidditch practices, so that frees up more time. Oh, and I will be dropping Divination class altogether."

"You cannot drop classes during your fifth year, Harry." said Dumbledore, warningly.

"We've already approved it with Madam Marchbanks of the Wizarding Examinations Authority," said Umbridge "Any student can opt out of one of the optional subjects in favour of a work-based course that will potentially lead to a job offer, you know that Dumbledore."

Harry could tell by the look on the man's face that he did know this. It was an interesting fact that Harry had not been informed of this when he was choosing which extra classes to take for his O.W.L. years. He would have liked to have pursued one of the alternate courses a long time ago, and would have dropped Divination in favour of one the moment he knew that such things were available.

Hannah actually went to work with her mother for a few hours every week, building up a few basic skills that were required to become a healer. Susan took a class provided by the DMLE at the Ministry studying law. And they told him that their fellow Hufflepuff Ernie Macmillan would go and work in his Dad's office at the family's ink production factory, aiming to one day take over the family business. Harry had never noticed until this was mentioned, but most of the inkpots he purchased for school use had a small bit of writing beneath the logo on the label that read "_Manufactured by Macmillan & Sons. Est. 1655._"

Harry had somehow been completely denied the opportunity to do such things and wasn't very happy about it. As the majority of these extra classes occurred outside of the school, he supposed that this was just more evidence of Dumbledore attempting to keep him under his thumb.

Apparently Dumbledore did not like the direction that the course of the conversation had switched to and so made an attempt to change it "Where did you go this summer, Harry?"

Harry stood up from his seat and replied "I am afraid that that information is no concern of yours, Headmaster."

"I am your magical guardian," responded Dumbledore "It is my right to know what happened to you during the time you were missing."

"I was not missing." replied Harry "Nor was I ever officially reported as such. I informed the Ministry of my new location and received their approval. And they were the only ones who needed to know."

And before Dumbledore could say anything more, Harry turned and left, Umbridge following him after offering "Good night Albus, Minerva."

Neither said anything to her in response.

Once the door was shut, McGonagall turned to Dumbledore and asked "Why did you just let him leave?"

Dumbledore took off his glassed and rubbed the bridge of his nose before replying "We would have gained nothing more out of him tonight. That boy can be very stubborn when he wants to be, and now he has the Ministry's backing."

"How bad is our situation now?"

"I honestly cannot say, Minerva. Harry clearly is not happy with us and is convinced that the staff cannot handle bullying students effectively."

"I've warned you time and again that allowing Severus so much freedom to rule Slytherin House as he sees fit would only come back to bite us."

"I trust Severus' judgement, Minerva, and I ask that you do too."

"It's is had to trust that man's judgement when he chose two of the biggest bullies in that year group to be prefects. What were you thinking when you approved them for the role?"

"I was hoping that by having responsibility thrust upon them that they would respond appropriately and grow up. That, as I recall, is the same thing that you and I both hope to achieve by appointing Ronald Weasley to the same position. I would say that buy implementing a three strikes plan; all three of those students may be stripped of those badges before they can learn their lessons."

"Or it may help them learn it quicker," offered McGonagall with a touch of hope in her voice.

"Perhaps." replied Dumbledore. He gave a weary sigh and said "We knew that there was going to be a storm coming from the Ministry, but I never suspected that Harry Potter would be on their side for it."

"Well what did you expect, abandoning him like that?" demanded McGonagall "Who knows what he was thinking all those days he spent alone at his Muggle relatives' house. You betrayed his trust, Albus. We all did."

Dumbledore rubbed a hand over his face and heaved another sigh.

This was going to be a long school year.

* * *

"When I arrived here earlier this afternoon, I took the liberty of talking to a few House Elves and having them organise an office and private quarters for you Mr Potter, as per the Minister's request." said Professor Umbridge as the two made their way along the corridor that led away from the Headmaster's office "They chose one that is situated close to the approximate half-way point between all four house common rooms, ensuring that it will be easy to find for any student that needs you."

"Thank you," said Harry politely "Once I receive my class schedule tomorrow at breakfast I will be able to organise a timetable for when I can meet with students. Oh, and thank you for assisting me back there. I think your presence really helped in getting Snape to hold his tongue."

"You mean he's usually worse than that?" asked Umbridge sounding surprised.

"Much worse," replied Harry "especially when I'm around."

"And Dumbledore just lets him get away with it?"

"Oh yes. I mean, they can't control students who bully, so why would a bullying teacher be handled any better?"

"I'll have to keep a close eye on him then."

"You should. By rights potions has the potential to be one of the most enjoyable classes at this school. Instead it is one of the most dreaded, and that is purely due to the fact that it is Snape who teaches it."

By now their path had led them to the corridor in which Harry's new office and sleeping quarters were located.

The door was situated behind a suit of armour.

Professor Umbridge instructed him that he only had to inform the suit of armour of what his password would be and the door would be opened.

Harry waited for her to leave before turning to the suit of armour and stating "The password is "liberation"."

The suit of armour nodded its head in understanding before stepping to the side and opening the door for Harry, who stepped through and found a small yet cosy office located within, complete with his own desk.

It was late though, so, deciding that he would have a look around in the morning, he made his way over to the door that was located on the opposite side of the room. Beyond he found a small sitting room, complete with a fireplace, a sofa and two comfy looking armchairs.

But it was in the next room that he found what he was looking for; a large and comfortable looking bed.

Harry reached into the pocket on the inside of his robes and pulled out the sample of treacle tart that he had taken from the Great Hall earlier.

"Tippy!" he called out into the darkness of the room.

With a faint pop Tippy the House Elf appeared. She belonged to the Bones family and had been the one that usually cleaned Harry's room when he stayed at their house during the summer. Madam Bones had arranged it so that Tippy could travel to Harry at Hogwarts if he had need of her.

"Yes, young sir?" she asked him.

Harry held out the package and said "Please take this to Madam Bones. It needs testing for a suspicious potion."

"Right away sir!" said Tippy with a bow before popping away.

With that last job for the day done, Harry stretched and turned towards the bed.

Deciding to let his inner child out to play, Harry took a running jump and landed spread-eagled on top of the bed, the soft mattress easily cushioning his landing.

'_Well,'_ he thought as he lay there _'that's day one over with…'_

And with that thought, he fell into a deep and peaceful sleep, on top of the bed and still fully clothed.

* * *

**A/N:**** Well, if the chapter previous to this one flowed onto the page nice and easily, this one was the exact opposite. Wow that was hard.**

**I know that some of you may not like it because Harry didn't bring up his vaults, family books or his brooms, but again I reiterate – that stuff is being collected by Madam Bones and being put in a massive folder marked "evidence" that is being kept under every protection charm she knows as she builds up an air-tight case against Dumbledore. Harry saying too much now will just put Dumbledore even more on the alert than he normally is. I did try to give Harry enough digs at the staff to keep you happy though. And for those of you awaiting the Snape explosion, it's coming. He really does not appreciate what happened to him and his favourite students in this chapter.**

**Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Look out for the next one!**


	15. The Snape of Things to Come

**So there was a good response to the last chapter. Thankfully everyone seemed to get why Harry did not take Dumbledore immediately to task over various things.**

**As a side note, from the opinions voiced in multiple reviews, I appear to have done what was once thought impossible, and made Dolores Umbridge into a somewhat likeable. I don't think it's a fanfiction first, but I think it's safe to say that it is an extremely rare phenomenon. I do try to keep things original, after all (and that is extremely hard to do in the Harry Potter fanfiction community!)**

**Anyway, thanks again for all your support. Enjoy chapter 15!**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 15: The "Snape" of Things to Come!

Harry cursed himself when he awoke the next morning. Weary from the previous day's events, he had stumbled through his quarters and to his bedroom where he fell asleep on top of his bed without giving a thought to doing even the briefest of check of the rooms for any unsavoury spell work.

Madam Bones would be so disappointed in him!

Before he could even think of taking a shower, Harry whipped out his wand and cast every detection spell he knew over every object and in every nook and cranny his new rooms held. Fortunately the spells turned up nothing, so it seemed that Dolores Umbridge had been able to arrange for the House Elves to set up these rooms for Harry without Dumbledore getting wind of it. If he had, it was likely that everything from the pillows on the bed to the toilet seat would be enchanted with some kind of monitoring spell.

After having a quick shower and getting dressed, Harry fed Hedwig a few owl treats before picking up his schoolbag and heading towards the door. As he walked, he opened the front compartment of his bag to check that he had a full stock of quills, ink and parchment.

It turned out that he had plenty of each in supply, as well as all of the text books for his chosen subjects. However, also contained within that compartment was something altogether unexpected.

Four wands.

It seemed that, as well as forgetting to check his quarters for spells, he had also forgotten to give Draco and his cronies their wands back the night before.

Well, a night without their wands should probably cause them all to respect what a privilege it was to have them in the first place (note: should!) Whether they did or did not, Snape was guaranteed to be on the war path at breakfast.

Deciding to deal with that problem when it reared its greasy head, Harry zipped up his bag and then opened the door to exit his rooms. The suit of armour beyond stepped aside in order to allow him to pass out into the corridor and then resumed its spot in front of the door.

For the briefest second Harry felt a mild surge of panic. He knew that he had set the password to get into his quarters the night before, but for a brief moment he could not remember what he had chosen it to be.

Then it came to him: _Liberation._

As he began walking along the corridor, he repeated the word many times over in his head in order to make sure that he remembered it.

Unfortunately he was so engrossed in this that he literally walked into someone. Fortunately the other person was quite a bit smaller than him, so he was not knocked over. For the girl he had walked into, however, it was a different matter. Only the fact that she had two fellow students behind her stopped her from toppling over backwards and landing flat on her back on the cold stone floor.

"Hey, sorry about that." said Harry as the two girls pushed the other back onto her feet.

"S'okay!" the first girl squeaked in embarrassment.

Harry noticed immediately that they were each wearing the ties and badges of Ravenclaw House, and all three appeared to be first years.

"So, where are you headed?" he asked, hoping to be helpful.

"To breakfast," muttered one of the girls.

"But we got lost." said the third.

"Well, the bad news is that you are going in completely the wrong direction," said Harry "but the good news is that I am heading to breakfast as well, so why don't you follow me?"

All three girls nodded and followed him as he set off towards the Great Hall.

"So how come you didn't go down to breakfast with some of the other students?" Harry asked in an effort to make conversation as they walked along.

"We were following some second years, but stopped to look at a portrait of children flying kites in a field," explained one of the girls "when we turned to carry on the second years were gone."

Harry thought about that for a moment, and could not recall ever seeing a portrait of children flying kites, but then again he had never had any cause to go near Ravenclaw Tower, so any portraits located near there were not ones he would have come across.

Then again, it had also been some time since he had bothered to study any of the portraits in the castle. The one they had described could well have been a new one, and he had just never noticed it.

"Well don't worry," he said "Most people get lost at some point during their first few weeks here. But before you know it, you'll be able to make your way down to the Great Hall or to your classrooms with your eyes closed."

"Is there a spell for that?" asked one of the girls, eagerly.

"Um…" said Harry thoughtfully "No, not that I know of."

"Oh, there you three are!" exclaimed a voice from behind them.

Harry and the girls turned around to see Padma Patil hurrying towards them.

"Hey, Padma," said Harry "What brings you here?"

"I was looking for these three," replied Padma "All the other first years arrived with some of the second years. When these three didn't turn up I decided to go looking for them."

Harry turned to the three girls and asked "See that? She came looking for you. That's someone you can trust right there, so never be afraid to talk to her, okay?"

All three girls nodded.

"For that matter," Harry continued "you can always come and talk to me."

"Okay," squeaked one of the girls, whilst the other two looked too embarrassed to do anything more than nod with their eyes fixed firmly on the floor.

Padma rolled her eyes at their behaviour and said "Come on, let's go."

As they walked Padma asked of Harry "So, any plans to sit at the Ravenclaw table this morning?"

"Actually I was planning on sitting with the Hufflepuffs for breakfast and Ravenclaws for lunch," answered Harry "but if you really wanted me to I suppose that I could switch up the order of things."

"No," said Padma "lunch will be fine. I'll save you a seat. But does this mean that you'll be having dinner with the Slytherins?"

"Looks that way…" said Harry before trailing off unsurely.

"I'll arrange for the coffin to be delivered tomorrow morning," said Padma "Do you like yew or are you a mahogany person?"

"I'd prefer a pine if you can get it," replied Harry, keeping up the joke "I rather like the smell, and it is a much more eco-friendly option."

"Noted. Seriously though, how do you plan on surviving sitting with the Slytherins?"

"Well, hopefully I can sit next to Tracey Davis or one of the Greengrass sisters, so at least one side of me should be safe. From then on the plan is to keep my wand in my hand and touch nothing."

"Sounds like a reasonable idea," replied Padma. She was silent for a few moments, apparently lost in thought. Then she asked "So if you do survive dinner with the Slytherins, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out later?"

Harry paused at that. He looked to the girls and said "If you go down that staircase, the Great Hall is on your right."

All three hurried off down the stairs.

Harry turned to Padma and asked "Do you mean like a date or something?"

"If you want," she replied, sounding suddenly unsure of herself.

"I'd like that," said Harry, and was rewarded with a bright smile.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah. What did you have in mind?"

Her lips moved slightly as she tried to find an answer, but finally wincing and replying "You know what? I concentrated so hard on working up the courage to ask you on a date that I didn't stop to think up something for us to actually do on the date."

Harry chuckled and said "Well, I guess Hogsmeade is out of the question. Tell you what, I'm the guy here. You did the asking, so let me plan what we do."

A smile formed on her face as she replied "Okay. Let me know at lunch."

"Sure thing," said Harry as she turned and walked down the remaining flight of stairs.

Just before she disappeared into the Great Hall she glanced back at him over her shoulder and smiled before disappearing from view.

Harry remained standing at the top of the stairs, a smile of his own on his face.

_He had a date!_

Not only that, he had a date with a witch who was considered by many of his classmates to be one of the prettiest girls in their year.

Not only that, she was kind, thoughtful and intelligent person to boot! It didn't get much better than that.

'_Suck on that everyone who ever thought I might be gay!'_ he thought as he finally began to make his way down the stairs.

The timing of the date was set for after dinner, so all he had to do now was plan what they were actually going to do on their date.

He stopped walking.

'_Holy hell, I have to plan a date!'_ he thought in a panic. He didn't have the first clue how to do that.

Alright, he wasn't completely clueless. He knew that the basic formula for a date with a girl was dinner and either a movie or dancing. But that was in the Muggle world. He was at Hogwarts. They didn't show movies at Hogwarts. Opportunities to go dancing at Hogwarts were very few and far between. And unless you felt like sneaking into the kitchens to pay a visit to the House Elves, dinner at Hogwarts was only available in the Great Hall.

His mind whirled about as thoughts raced through his head at a million miles an hour. Aside from a stroll through Hogsmeade Village when the staff allowed it, what could possibly constitute a date for two students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?

As he resumed his walk towards the Great Hall, he thought about older students whom he had seen dating each other. He didn't make a habit of studying them, but sometimes they were hard to ignore.

For the most part, "dates" at Hogwarts seemed to consist of finding a secluded spot in an alcove or in the shade of a tree in order to snog for a bit until a teacher or prefect (or Peeves) found you. As fun as snogging Padma sounded, Harry doubted that that was all she would want out of a first date.

For that matter, he didn't even know if Padma would be up for snogging him at all on their first date. Somehow she didn't seem to be that type of girl.

Some days in the warmer months couples could be seen sitting on the grassy lawns watching the world go by together. Did that constitute a proper date?

Harry wondered if he ought to work on an attempt to increase the number of Hogsmeade trips per year. Seriously, so long as they all did their homework, what was wrong with the students being allowed to wander down to the village on any Saturday of the year? They all needed to regularly top up their school supplies after all, as well as buy treats for pets amongst other things. It seemed strange that they could only do that on three set days in the year, and the rest of the time they had to settle for ordering their supplies through owl post, which was rather inefficient as it took so long.

He must have entered the Great Hall without realising, for he was suddenly pulled unpleasantly from his train of thought by a shout.

"Potter!"

Harry blinked and the world came back into focus. He was literally standing just in the dead centre of the frame of the double doors to the Great Hall. The eyes of all the students at the four house tables, as well as all of those belonging to the people seated at the staff table were on him as Severus Snape stormed along the aisle between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, heading straight towards Harry. His black robes billowed about in that style that only he seemed to have perfected, and yet, as always, his long and greasy hair barely moved an inch.

Obviously it had been Snape who had shouted his name at him. It seemed that the man wanted as many witnesses for this event as possible.

'_Fine by me!'_ thought Harry before asking "How may I help you, Professor Snape?"

"Don't play dumb with me you insolent little whelp!" sneered the school's resident potions master "Malfoy has informed me that you stole his wand as well as those of his friends. Now hand them over."

"I stole nothing," replied Harry calmly "Those wands were confiscated from the students in question as their behaviour on the Hogwarts Express warranted it. I held onto the wands for the night in order to teach those four a lesson in humility; however I had every intention of giving them back to their owners this morning so as to not interfere with their lessons."

"A likely story!" scoffed Snape "Admit it. You were hoping that they would be unable to perform magic in class and so loose plenty of house points, weren't you?"

"I am afraid that you could not be more wrong, Professor," said Harry.

"Is that so?" the man asked with a dangerous edge to his voice "Well then, let's see how you like this. Two hundred points from Gryffindor for wand theft."

He smirked at Harry and said "Well, that should mean that the Gryffindors will be in the minus figures until after the Christmas holidays at the very least."

"Again you are incorrect, Professor," said Harry "As I said during my speech last night, my new role requires me to be entirely neutral. Therefore I am no longer _of_ any of the school houses, Gryffindor or otherwise."

"And yet you still wear the colours of Gryffindor House," replied Snape with a sneer.

Harry looked down and saw that he was right "Oh, so I am. My mistake."

And with that, he took out his wand and tapped the badge on the front of his robes, causing the image of the Gryffindor lion to shrink back into just one quarter of the available space. The remaining three quarters of the space was filled by the eagle of Ravenclaw, the badger of Hufflepuff and the serpent of Slytherin. Then a big 'H' appeared, meaning that his robes now bore the emblem of Hogwarts School itself, rather than one of its individual houses.

This was followed by a tap of the wand to his tie, which caused the red and gold stripes on it to narrow and for some to change colour so that there were eight different colours, red and gold for Gryffindor, blue and bronze for Ravenclaw, yellow and black for Hufflepuff and green and silver for Slytherin.

Then finally one tap to the collar of his robes saw the silk lining that for Gryffindors was a dark red turn into the black colour that the lining originally was went first purchased.

"There," said Harry as he pocketed his wand "I trust that you find this change satisfactory, Professor."

There was a vein throbbing in Snape's forehead now. Harry had seen that phenomenon in the man on several occasions over the past few years, but the only time it had ever been this severe looking had been at the end of his third year when Sirius Black evaded the Dementor's kiss and Snape was convinced that Harry was somehow involved (which he was, but Snape had no way to prove that.)

Of course, Harry realised that it was taking Snape every ounce of self-control he had to stop himself from exploding right there in the Great Hall. This meant that there were only a few seconds more to go before Snape either hexed him or had a stroke, therefore Harry decided to end their conversation there and then by stepping around the man and striding towards the front of the hall.

He stood before the staff table and turned to face the students before asking "Could Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle of Slytherin House please come up here?"

Two of the four students in question exchanges looks with each other and several of their house mates before getting to their feet. The other two simply waited to see what the first two would tell them to do. All four of them then walked to the front of the hall.

"The behaviour exhibited by the four of you on the train yesterday was appalling," said Harry "can I trust that you will not behave like that again?"

Showing that they had at least some brain cells rattling around in their self-important heads, both Draco and Pansy nodded in reply. Crabbe and Goyle mirrored them, even if they did not entirely understand the question asked.

"Very well…" said Harry before swinging his backpack off of his shoulder and opening it up to retrieve the four wands. He held them out to the four Slytherins, each of whom took their own before slinking back to their house table.

Harry stepped away from the staff table and headed towards the Hufflepuffs. On the way he noticed that Snape was still standing between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor house tables.

He called out "Was there something else you wanted, Professor?"

In response Snape gave Harry his trademark sneer before turning and sweeping out of the hall, robes billowing around him once again.

Harry shook his head and continued to the Hufflepuff table. Every eye followed him.

Hannah shoved Megan Jones to get the girl to budge over before patting the now vacated spot next to her.

"Thanks Hannah" said Harry before sitting down "Good morning, Hufflepuffs."

"Good morning Harry," chirped Hannah brightly "So, care to tell me what the show at lunch will be?"

"Show?" questioned Harry "What show?"

"Well, last night there was the big "_I'm here to help you_" monologue, and this morning you and Snape gave us double-act performance following by some award-winning performances by the Slytherins, seriously, Pansy ought to win a BAFTA for how well she acted the part of "_sad-looking witch._" And after all that, I want to know what kind of act we can be seeing at lunch."

"Hate to tell you this, but none of that this morning was planned," replied Harry "And how to do know about the BAFTA's, anyway?"

"Oh, so that was all improv, nice," said Hannah "And just because I'm from a Noble and Ancient House does not mean I am a pleb. Muggleborn mother, remember?"

"Right, gotcha." said Harry before looking across the table "Morning Susan, how are you?"

Susan glared right back at him, though the effect was dampened by the fact that she was obviously sulking about something.

"Oh, don't be like that Sue, Harry doesn't know yet." said Hannah.

"What don't I know?" asked Harry.

Hannah leaned in and said in a staged whisper so that everyone within twenty feet heard her "Eddie Carmichael went and got himself a girlfriend during the summer."

Harry turned to look over his shoulder to look at the Ravenclaw table. He had to raise himself out of his seat a little in order to look over the heads of the Gryffindors seated at their table.

Sure enough, Eddie Carmichael was sitting there, trying to remove some girl's appendix via her mouth with his tongue. Cho Chang and her friend Marietta Edgecombe seemed to be trying to give the amorous pair as much room as possible.

"Oh yeah," he mumbled, feeling more than a little bit grossed out by the overly public display of affection.

"Stupid trollop," growled Susan.

"Oh, come on Susan," said Hannah "In all the years you've fancied him, how many times have you actually talked to him?"

"I was gonna let him know that I liked him eventually," grumbled Susan "Stupid prat could've waited until I was ready."

"Yeah, well you'll just have to find someone else to pine after," said Hannah "How about Harry?"

Susan flushed scarlet, but Harry didn't notice as he was paying attention to the results of the spells he was using to test the food around him. He did, however, register Hannah's comment and replied with an absent minded "She can't. I'm taken too."

Around him several conversations stopped, causing him to look up and glance around. Then he leaned towards Hannah and asked "I said that too loud, didn't I?"

"Yup," she replied with a grin "Now spill it, Potter."

Harry was saved from further embarrassment by the arrival of Professor McGonagall, who asked "Mr Potter, why are you not seated with the Gryffindors?"

"Seriously?" Harry asked "After that performance with Snape just now I have to explain it again?"

McGonagall's lips thinned and her nostrils flared, two major signs that she was angry. However she refrained from commenting and instead said "No, Mr Potter, you have made yourself quite clear. I just came over to deliver your weekly timetable. As we were unaware of your change in plans you are still down for taking all of your classes with Gryffindor students. I have, however, taken the liberty of removing Divination from your timetable. I expect you to use those vacant periods wisely."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry replied, taking the timetable from her "And don't worry. I plan on using those free periods to do as much of my homework as possible, therefore allowing me more time after classes and on weekends to do my duties as Student Advisor."

"Very well," she said "Let me know if you require any assistance in your duties."

With that she turned and headed back to the Gryffindor table.

"I'll keep that in mind," muttered Harry as he tried to remember McGonagall ever offering him assistance in anything before.

After realising that she had not done such a thing before, and therefore coming to the conclusion that she must have offered on Dumbledore's orders, Harry glanced down at the timetable in his hand.

He had a day that was mostly double periods ahead of him. Double History of Magic, followed by break, then double Potions, lunch, a homework period due to his dropping of Divination, and then to round the day off nicely, he had a double period of Defence Against the Dark Arts before dinner.

Both of the new teachers plus the greasy git all on the first day back at school. What joy.

Hannah leaned in over his shoulder and let out a whistle before commenting "Wow. Don't you have a fun day ahead of you?"

"Someone out there must hate me," he replied "I always seem to end up with at least one potions lesson on the first day back. What have you got?"

"Dunno," replied Hannah "Professor Sprout hasn't been along with our timetables yet. Anyway, that's enough talk about lessons. Before McGonagall rudely interrupted us, you let slip a juicy bit of information about being "_taken_." Now explain."

Harry sighed and replied "Alright, well I guess I'm not really "taken" so much as, well… look, I just arranged to meet up with Padma after dinner, that's all."

"As in a date?" asked Susan.

"Yes, Susan," replied Harry "a date. Padma and I are going on a date."

"A date where?" asked Hannah.

"I don't know yet. I have to plan that part, but so far the best that I have been able to come up with has been a stroll around the lake."

"That's actually not a bad way to go if you two are just testing the waters, so to speak," commented Hannah "Just don't get so tongue-tied around her that you can't talk to her. That'll make things go really slowly."

"I don't normally get tongue tied around Padma," replied Harry "And I don't plan on starting now. But is taking her on a walk around the lake good enough for a first date?"

Susan leaned across the table and said in a low voice "You could always call on Tippy and ask if she'll sort you out with a picnic basket."

Harry nodded his head thoughtfully, a walk around the lake in the evening sun with a break part of the way around for a little picnic sounded like an acceptable first date, especially given his limited options inside the castle and its grounds.

If only there was a magical room that could transform itself into anything you wanted…

All conversation about Harry's upcoming date came to a stop when, with a screech, the first of the many owls that brought the morning's post flew into the Great Hall, followed by whole parliament of others.

The owls swooped down low over the five long tables and began landing in front of the intended recipients of their deliveries.

A Tawny Owl landed in front of Harry and held out its leg to him in order to allow him to untie the day's copy of The Daily Prophet from it.

Harry took the paper and deposited a single bronze Knut coin into the pouch on the owl's other leg. The bird then flew off as Harry unfurled the newspaper.

There on the front page, staring back at him was Harry himself. He was standing to the immediate left of the Minister for Magic, with both Dolores Umbridge and Griselda Marchbanks standing on the Minister's right hand side.

The headline read "_Education Reform Latest_" and below that a subheading read "_Ministry has full support and cooperation of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived_."

"Well would you look at that?" asked Hannah "And there was me thinking that the show for breakfast was over, now it turns out that your little sparring session with Snape was just the opening act."

"What can I say?" joked Harry "I like to keep my fans entertained."

"Don't look now, but Dumbledore seems a little pissed," said Susan.

"I'm not surprised," commented Ernie Macmillan from her left before quoting aloud from the text "_During my time at Hogwarts I have been assured that the castle is a safe place to be. Unfortunately I myself have had several experiences that have shown that to not be the case, not least of which was my name ending up in the Goblet of Fire at the start of the Tri Wizard Tournament last year."_

"How about this?" asked Megan Jones, and she quoted "_The staff at Hogwarts do not seem to be subjected to any form of review, and this, in my experience, seems to have led to some of the staff behaving in an unprofessional manner. This attitude has, of course, let to a certain degree of distrust amongst the students for the staff."_

"Tell me if you find something that isn't true," said Harry.

"I agree with every word, Harry." said Ernie.

"Same here," agreed Megan.

"Mr Potter!"

He hadn't even had his first class yet, and that was the third time that morning that a teacher had come over and addressed him.

"Yes, Professor McGonagall?" asked Harry, turning in his seat to face her.

"The Headmaster would like to see you in his office," she answered "Now."

Harry gave a weary sigh before getting to his feet "Fine, but this had better not make me late for class."

The stony-faced Transfiguration Professor said nothing in reply. Instead she turned with a swish of tartan and led the way out of the Great Hall, Harry following along behind after telling the Hufflepuffs that he would see them later.

"Summoned to the Headmaster's office twice before the first class starts," commented Susan as she and the others watched him go "That boy must have just set a new record."

* * *

Somewhere near Whitehall in London, there stood what appeared to be a normal red telephone box. People for miles around new that the thing didn't work and so paid it no mind. Inside that telephone box there was a small, ragged looking rat, lying curled up in one of the corners hoping to avoid detection.

That rat was Peter Pettigrew in his animagus form.

After several days, his Master had finally come around from whatever ailment it was that had temporarily affected him. After sufficiently punishing the healers and several Death Eaters, including Pettigrew, for failing to find a cure so that he could have healed sooner, the Dark Lord had turned his mind to other things.

In the lead up to the events of that fateful Halloween night of 1981, various different things had occurred which had led Lord Voldemort to the doorstep of the Potter family home. One of them was the report of a prophecy, delivered to him by one of the newer recruits. The prophecy had not been completely heard by the Death Eater, but it had been enough to force Voldemort's hand.

Now, once again resurrected, Lord Voldemort desired to know exactly what it was that the prophecy contained that the eavesdropping Death Eater had missed.

And that was why Peter Pettigrew was currently hiding in his animagus form in a red telephone box, for that telephone box was, of course, the visitor's entrance to the Ministry of Magic building, and was Pettigrew's best chance of getting inside unnoticed.

In the form of a rat, Pettigrew was unable to check his watch. However he was reasonably sure that the main workforce would have begun arriving around an hour ago. All he had to do was wait for someone to come along and use the visitor's entrance, thus allowing him access to the building whilst remaining undetected.

Well, that was the plan, anyway.

Suddenly he heard footsteps coming nearer. Then the door to the telephone box opened.

Pettigrew was in luck!

The man who entered the phone box had a short conversation with the machine, and then the box began to sink down into the bowels of the Ministry.

He was in!

* * *

"This could be very damaging to the school, Harry," said Dumbledore as he leaned over his desk to study Harry. A copy of today's Daily Prophet was sitting on top of the desk.

"I disagree," replied Harry, calmly "Every word that I said is true, from the issues with the staff to the bullying students to the safety concerns regarding the school as a whole. Nothing that I said in that interview was misconstrued in any way."

"Nevertheless," said Dumbledore "this school has an image to maintain, and I will not have a student, any student, besmirching that image in the media."

"Perhaps it's time that that this school maintained its image by actually living up to it for once," Harry retorted "Perhaps it's time that the people running this place looked at their problems and tackled them head on rather than burying it all under the nearest rug and then pretending that everything is all hunky-dory!"

"Harry, you are young," said Dumbledore "I do not expect you to understand…"

"You're right," said Harry "I _don't_ understand. So perhaps you could try explaining it to me. Perhaps you could try explaining why it is more important to maintain a façade rather than deal with the school's problems. Perhaps you could try explaining why it is more important to keep irresponsible, incompetent and/or vindictive staff in the castle than it is to ensure that your students receive their education in a pleasant, safe and nurturing environment."

"Harry…" Dumbledore tried to speak in a placating tone.

"Didn't think so." said Harry, getting up out of the chair he had been sitting in "Let me say this now, Headmaster, just so that we are absolutely clear on the matter. You may long ago have stopped caring about the health and wellbeing, both mental and physical, of those who come to this castle in order to receive an education, but I do care. I will do all that I can to help them, and to protect them from ineptness and your total disregard for them, and if I had to make a deal with the Ministry of Magic, and give interviews for The Daily Prophet in order to achieve that, then so be it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lesson to be getting to."

And with that he left the office, leaving a deflated Dumbledore sitting behind his desk.

"Is it true, Minerva?" he asked of Professor McGonagall "Have I really allowed things to fall so far as all that?"

"There certainly are one or two areas where both you and the school and a whole could do with improving upon," McGonagall replied "but I don't think that things are quite as bleak as Mr Potter paints them."

Dumbledore gave a tired sigh and commented "I suppose you are right, Minerva. I just hope that all of this doesn't come back to cause us problems later."

* * *

**A/N:**** So, what do you think? Harry has finally made arrangements to go on a date with a girl! For any of you who feel like ranting that the pairing listed for this story if Harry/Susan, I will once again point out that said pairing is not yet set in stone and may be subject to change depending on how things work out.**

**Next chapter should contain the first day's classes, and then after that the plot should begin moving forwards properly again (yes, I am aware that the events of this chapter, the previous four and the next one will have consisted only of two days' worth of events, but sometimes that's how it goes!**


	16. Class is in Session

**So there was a good response to the last chapter, hopefully this one will be the same. I had to do a lot of research for this this one on the Harry Potter Wikia. Reasons for this should become apparent when quickly enough. Seriously, if you are a writer of Harry Potter fanfiction and you do not have the Harry Potter Wikia in your list of favourite sites, then get on with it!**

**Anyway, enjoy Chapter 16!**

* * *

**Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor**

Chapter 16: Class is in Session

Dumbledore's demanding of a meeting with him meant that Harry arrived in the corridor outside the History of Magic classroom just in time to see the last of his classmates entering the room. He hurried forwards and caught the door just before it snapped shut and slid inside.

It appeared that they were sharing this class with the Hufflepuffs. Susan and Hannah waved at him from their table to the right. Harry waved back and then scanned the room for a vacant seat. Professor Umbridge was sitting at her desk, sorting through a pile of parchment.

It quickly became apparent to Harry that there was only one vacant seat available. It was the seat that he had occupied for this class in every year previous, the one on Hermione's left. Ron was seated with Neville on the next table over.

Harry gave a weary sigh and made his way over. With Ron on his left and Hermione on his right, this may just prove to be a trying double period.

Hermione looked up in surprise when he dumped him book bag onto the table next to her and looked like she wanted to say something as he pulled out the chair, but she refrained from opening her mouth.

Ron, however, showed no such restraint. The moment Harry was seated, the red-haired boy said, with a wide grin on his face "That was awesome at breakfast Harry. First tell off Snape, then you got to punish Malfoy _and_ humiliate him in front of everyone in the middle of the Great Hall!"

Without looking at him, Harry replied "I was just doing my job, Ron. Malfoy and his friends behaved in such a way that warranted their being punished, and I did so. At no point did I intend to humiliate them in front of the entire school, however Professor Snape forced the issue. He also acted out of line, and I merely called him on it."

"I still recon it was wicked," said Ron, who clearly still thought that he and Harry were friends. Apparently things like that took their time to sink in through the prat's thick skull.

Harry was pulling out his textbook for the class out of his bag when he became aware that Hermione was watching him. He turned to look at her and she turned away, her feeling of awkwardness clearly showing on her face.

Harry decided to just simply ignore the pair of them as he fished out some parchment from his bag.

"_Hem, hem."_

Silence filled the classroom as every student broke off their respective conversations in order to direct their full attention to the source of this strange noise.

Professor Umbridge was now standing up behind her desk, apparently ready to begin their class.

"Well, good morning class!" she said in that patronisingly girlish voice she had used the previous evening during her speech.

A few of the class mumbled "good morning" in reply, with Harry's response being the clearest.

"Oh, tut, tut," said Professor Umbridge "_That _won't do at all now, will it? I would like you, please, to reply "Good morning, Professor Umbridge". Now, one more time, please. Good morning class!"

"Good morning Professor Umbridge!" the parroted back in unison.

"There," she said in her most simpering voice "that wasn't too difficult now, was it?"

Harry winced. She was patronising them again.

"Now then," she continued "for our first lesson together, it has been decided that we shall start things off with a little pop quiz, so to speak."

An ominous feeling of dread spread through most of the students in the classroom as Professor Umbridge gave a flick of her wand at the parchment on her desk. The pile of parchment rose up into the air, divided out into groups of three in mid-air and then landed, three pieces of parchment in front of each student.

"Now this is nothing to worry about," insisted Professor Umbridge "This is just so that I, as your new teacher in this subject, can get a true feeling as to where each of you stand in your understanding of the subject matter at hand."

To Harry this made sense, but he, like so many others in this class, could only remember one other instance in which a new Professor had given them a quiz during their first lesson with them. Professor Lockhart's quiz questions had had nothing to do with the subject that he was teaching. Hopefully the case would be different here.

"Books away and quills out!" said Professor Umbridge "There is to be no talking during the test, and anyone seen copying will lose ten house points. Each of the three pages before you has ten questions, and you have forty five minutes in which to answer as many of the thirty questions as you can. The answers expected are short ones, so there will be no need to write out small essays. You may begin, now."

As one the class took up their quills and began reading the first question.

_When did the war with the dark wizard known as You-Know-Who officially begin?_

Harry pondered on that for a few moments. He knew that Voldemort had been defeated on 31st October 1981 (which he should know, as he was involved) and he also knew that the war had lasted approximately eleven years.

Next to him he could here Hermione's quill scratching away.

This subject had never actually come up in a History of Magic lesson before now, but Harry was certain that he had read it somewhere before. He remembered that it coincided with another date, something that was to do with America.

Then it hit him and his scribbled down his answer; _4__th__ July, 1970._

He looked to the next question.

When did the war with You-Know-Who officially end?

'_Easy' _thought Harry as he scribbled down the date; _31__st__ October, 1981._

When did the Wizarding community of Great Britain officially enter into the war with Gellert Grindelwald?

That brought Harry up short. He knew that the war with Grindelwald ended when Dumbledore defeated the man in a duel in 1945, but Harry wasn't sure whether or not forces from the British Ministry had been fighting in the conflict before then. He had a feeling that they had been, but he couldn't be certain.

Deciding to come back to that one later, Harry read the next question.

When did the war against Grindelwald end?

Harry noted down the year, 1945, but of the exact date he was not certain.

Who was the first female Minister for Magic of Great Britain?

Again Harry knew this one, but it was down to a chocolate frog card, not a History of Magic lesson that he knew it to be _Artemisia Lufkin._

In what year war St Mungo's Hospital founded?

Harry didn't have a clue. Nor did he know the answer for question seven (which Minister for Magic approved the implementation of the Hogwarts Express?)

Question eight proved easier.

8) In what year did the International Statute of Secrecy first come into effect?

Harry had just written his answer (_1692_) when Professor Umbridge's voice rang out through the silence "Mr Weasley that will be ten points from Gryffindor! And if I catch you trying to look at Mr Longbottom's answers again you will be serving a detention."

Like the rest of the class, Harry turned his head to look at Ron, who had gone rather pink around the ears. Next to him, Neville was shifting himself and his work closer to the edge of the table.

"Try using your bag, Mr Longbottom," said Professor Umbridge.

Neville nodded and picked his book bag up off the floor. He then set it down on the table between himself and Ron, making it harder to the red-headed boy to try and sneak a glace.

"There," said Professor Umbridge "Carry on, class!"

Harry turned back to the questions.

9) When was Gringotts Wizarding Bank put into full control of the Goblin Nation?

Harry knew that the year was 1865, but he had no idea as to anything more specific than that. The same went for question ten. He knew that the British Ministry was founded in 1625, but he could not be more specific than that.

Question eleven was about how in 1750, Clause 73 was added to the International Statute of Secrecy. The question asked what the clause related to, but Harry had no idea so he moved on to question twelve.

12) What practice was banned by the Ministry in 1965?

Harry knew the answer to this one, but only because the school Gamekeeper, Hagrid, had broken that very law last year by crossing a manticore with a fire crab to create his infamous blast-ended Skrewts.

_Experimental breeding of magical creatures_. Harry wrote.

Question thirteen proved to be another that he had no clue how to answer. Harry had never heard of Pierre Bonaccord, or his desire to grant rights to trolls. Therefore he had no idea which country did not want to join the International Confederation of Wizards when he was made the organisation's first Supreme Mugwump.

14) Before its revival in 1994, when was the Tri-Wizard Tournament last held?

After being forced to compete in the stupid tournament the previous year, Harry had made sure to read up on past tournaments and could, with certainty, note down that the last one had been in 1792.

Question fifteen was on a topic that sounded familiar to him. He remembered about the common Welsh green dragon attacking a group of sunbathers, and he remembered how the witch Tilly Toke and her family had driven the creature off before anyone could be seriously hurt, but the question asked where the incident had occurred and for the life of him Harry could not remember where it had happened, though he had a feeling that it might have been somewhere in the west country. Perhaps near where Ron and his family lived…

He moved on to question sixteen, which he was able to answer. In 1935, the witch Jocunda Sykes had made history by being the first person ever to fly from one side of the Atlantic Ocean to the other on a broomstick.

He left question seventeen unanswered, having no idea just who built the famous Leaky Cauldron pub in 1500. Nor could he answer question eighteen. Despite being a keen Quidditch player, who had read the book Quidditch through the ages several times, he had no idea when the ban on players using their wands on members of the opposite team had first come into effect.

He had never heard of Almerick Sawbridge or what he was famous for doing, and so left question nineteen unanswered as well. Nor could he answer question twenty, which asked when the Werewolf Code of Conduct was passed by the Ministry.

However, he was able to answer question twenty-one, which was about a Goblin Rebellion, one of Professor Binns's preferred topics to drone on about. Harry was certain that, during the Goblin Rebellion of 1612, it had been The Three Broomsticks Inn which had served at the wizard's headquarters in Hogsmeade village.

He was also able to answer question twenty two. The Quidditch tournament that had been established in 1652 was the European Cup.

Question twenty three, however, was a different matter. He had no idea how the Great Fire of London had actually been caused. He, like everyone else thought it had begun in a bakery, but the question clearly said that it didn't occur there, the muggles just thought it did.

Similarly Harry had no idea when the Ministry had first labelled the torture, killing and imperius curses as being unforgivable. He had heard of Gideon Flatworthy and his group of anti-muggle extremists, but he had no idea what they had called themselves. Nor, for that matter, could he say he knew what dangerous Scottish sport was outlawed in 1762. Therefore he left questions twenty four, twenty five and twenty six unanswered.

After pondering it for a bit he also left question twenty seven (who, in 1811, laid out the current definition of a "being"?) unanswered.

For question twenty eight (what mode of wizarding transport was first put into operation in 1865?) he took a wild stab in the dark and put down _The Knight Bus._

Question twenty nine turned out to be a doddle. The Ministry passed the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery in 1875. He knew that because that law had screwed with him on several occasions in the past.

The final question, like question twenty eight, was also filled in as a wild stab in the dark. Harry had never heard anything of the so called "_Squib Rights Marches_" and so had no idea which decade they had occurred in. Hoping that perhaps the squibs had been somewhat influenced by what was going on in the muggle world at the time, Harry wrote down "_the 1960's" _and hoped for the best.

He looked through his questions and found that he had only answered exactly half of the questions, and of the answers he had given there were more than a few that he was unsure were correct.

After thinking hard on it, Harry finally got the answer to the question about the dragon, the sunbathers and Tilly Toke. Given that the event was known as the "_Ilfracombe Incident" _it followed that the incident had taken place in Ilfracombe, which was in the county of Devon, which was where Ron lived, like he had thought.

He glanced up at the front desk where Professor Umbridge had set up an hourglass. He appeared to have fifteen minutes or so remaining.

To his right, Hermione's quill had stopped its scratching movements over the parchment before her, though whether this was because she had finished or was stuck was anyone's guess.

There were no sounds of quill movements coming from Harry's left either, though it was most likely that this was because Ron _was_ stuck.

Harry looked back to the question about the Leaky Cauldron. Who had built it? He felt like he ought to know this. He was relatively certain that it was a woman who had built the pub, but her name escaped him. He had a feeling that her first name might have been a flower, but he couldn't… It hit him! Daisy. That was her name!

He wrote it down. _Daisy._ But _Daisy_ what? Harry pondered it, and for some reason that her name might have something to do with the way you would describe an old person in an un-complimenting way. _Senile_ maybe… no. _Crackpot_… probably not._ Doddering_… yes, that sounded right.

Daisy Doddering. It seemed to fit, but not quite. After a few moments of thought he changed it to Daisy Dodderidge. That sounded more fitting.

He went through several of the questions again, and came upon the one about Gideon Flatworthy and his group of anti-muggle extremists. What was their name?

For some reason, the summoning charm came to mind. He had a feeling that the incantation for that spell (accio) was important here, but he could not think why. In his mind he said the incantation over and over again, but each time added a different letter of the alphabet on the end, hoping that sounding it out like that would help. _Accioa, acciob, accio_ and so on until _accion_ which sounded right and a moment later he had his answer.

Gideon Flatworthy and his group of anti-muggle extremists had called themselves the Accionites.

Proud of himself, he jotted down the answer.

After that he read through all of the unanswered questions again and thought really hard, but he was unable to come up with any more answers. He did, however, change his last answer from _the 1960's_ to _the 1970's_, purely because he was so unsure. But then he changed his answer back, reasoning that Squib Rights Marches, and squibs subsequently getting better rights during the latter half of the 1960's would have driven more pure-bloods to Voldemort's side when the war began in 1970.

Finally Professor Umbridge called out "Put your quills down please, and swap your papers with the person sitting next to you for marking."

Harry dropped his quill back into the ink pot and then handed his question papers to Hermione who, in turn, passed hers to him.

He was quite surprised to see several unanswered questions.

"Very well," said Professor Umbridge "If we are all ready, we will go through the paper together. Question 1, when did the war with the dark wizard known as You-Know-Who officially begin, anyone?"

Deciding that he might as well commit to the class, Harry raised his hand as Hermione did the same.

"Yes Mr Potter?" asked Professor Umbridge.

"The 4th July, 1970."

"Very good." said Professor Umbridge.

As most moved to mark their neighbour's answer, Seamus Finnigan raised his hand, prompting Umbridge to call on him.

"Dean got 1970, but not the 4th July bit." explained Seamus.

"Then he gets half a point," replied Professor Umbridge "Moving on…"

And so it went on until "And finally, in what decade did the Squib Rights Marches take place?"

Hermione was called on and she replied "The 1960's."

"Excellent," said Professor Umbridge "Now would you all please total up the scores of the papers you are marking and then hand them back?"

Harry totalled up Hermione's marks and scribbled down on the first page the number 21.5. Except for one instance when she only got half a mark, all of her other answers had been completely correct. The remaining eight points lost related to eight questions that she had been unable to answer. Perhaps unsurprisingly, two of the questions that had been unanswered were the ones relating to Quidditch.

He handed the test back to her, and Hermione returned his to him. He looked at his score and saw that he had gotten a measly 15.5. He had thought that he had done better than that, but looking over his parchment there were at least three examples of him only getting half the answer.

Well, at least his guesses about the Knight Bus and the Squib Rights Marches had been correct.

"Now then," said Professor Umbridge, who was now sitting down at her desk with a large piece of parchment in front of her "when I call your name, please call out your score so that I can make a note of it. Abbott, Hannah?"

Hannah's cheeks were slightly pink with embarrassment when she called out "Eighteen."

"_Well she did better than me!_" thought Harry.

"Bones, Susan?"

"Nineteen." Susan called.

"Brown, Lavender?"

"Ten." the Gryffindor girl called out meekly.

It turned out that Lavender had very little to be ashamed of. At least she had gotten up to double figures. Many who came after her could not say the same. Hermione was the only person to score in the twenties, and Harry's score actually placed him in the top five, with Neville, somewhat surprisingly, beating him by half a mark with a well-rounded sixteen.

Ron's ears were bright red when he was called upon last. His mumbled "six" was barely audible. That placed him at the bottom of the class, and even then it was debatable how many of those answers were his own and how many were copied from Neville before he was caught.

"Very well," said Professor Umbridge as she rolled up the sheet of parchment containing their scores "please pass your question papers to the front, and I will use them to plan out what areas we need to focus on as the year goes by. I should warn you that we will be having a test again somewhere in the near future so that we can see how much progress you are making."

Most of the class groaned at this news, but Harry noticed Hermione sit up a little straighter after hearing that she was going to get the opportunity to beat her score.

Harry actually thought that this was a good way to learn. Back in primary school, the maths teacher had used this method every Friday afternoon to make sure that they were all learning. Harry had found that to be a much better way to learn his times tables than when they all sat there droning out "One two is two, two twos are four, three twos are six…" and so on.

Also that there might be a test at any time (Umbridge had not stated exactly when it would happen) could only mean that they would spend more time studying the course material.

Shortly thereafter, the lesson ended.

"Class dismissed," said Professor Umbridge brightly "Mr Potter, could you stay behind please?"

Wondering what she could possible want now, Harry swung his the strap of his book bag onto his shoulder and made his way to the front of the classroom as everyone else headed towards the door at the back of the room.

"It seems you were wise to bring this to the attention of the Ministry," said Professor Umbridge after the last student had left. She shook her head ruefully "No one of your classmates got question twenty three correct."

"Which one was that again?" asked Harry.

"The one about how the Great Fire of London started," replied Umbridge "The muggles all thought that it began in a bakery, but some fool of a wizard living in the next house over was keeping a young common Welsh green dragon in his basement illegally. He managed to apparate out of course and the dragon was able to fly away, but it was seen by most of the population of the city. Had the International Statute of Secrecy been in effect then, it would have been one of the biggest breaches of it ever."

"You're going to have to report this, aren't you?" asked Harry.

"I must, yes," replied Umbridge "Be sure to have your report about the incident on the train completed by tomorrow evening. I can send it to the Ministry with mine."

"Of course," replied Harry before asking "Was there anything else?"

"Be sure to keep an eye on that Gryffindor Prefect. The Weasley boy. Something tells me he will be the first to lose his prefects badge."

"I've been thinking the same thing," said Harry, honestly.

* * *

A few moments later, Harry left the classroom and began to make his way towards the library. As he walked he cursed his luck. When he had arranged to meet with Padma after dinner, he had quite forgotten about having to write a report about Malfoy and Parkinson's behaviour on the train for submittal to the Ministry. As he did not want to miss out on his date later, Harry resigned himself to skipping his morning break in order to write the report in the library.

It was a simple enough task to complete as it was essentially just filling in a form, much like a prefect had to when reporting a transgression of a student. The problem was that it was just so time consuming.

Once inside the library he found himself an empty table in a secluded corner and dumped his book bag down on top of it before pulling out a seat to sit in.

From his bag he pulled out four of the forms, one for Malfoy, one for Parkinson, one for Crabbe and one for Goyle. In the spaces indicated, he filled out what their names were, which house they were in, which year they were in, what their transgressions were and what punishment he had given them. There was also a small box that he had to tick on Malfoy and Parkinson's forms, indicating that they were prefects.

He finished filling out the last form just as the bell signalling the end of break rang out. Harry pulled out his wand and used a copying charm, as taught to him by Madam Bones, in order to make several copies of each form. One copy was for Professor Umbridge to keep, one was for the school records, one was for the Wizarding Examinations Authority at the Ministry and the last one Harry decided he ought to keep for himself, just in case.

He then slid all of those forms back into his book bag and left the library.

Somehow he didn't think that missing the beginning of potions would go down to well.

/\/\/\/\/\

Harry arrived in the corridor outside the dungeon classroom to find that, while he was certainly not the first to arrive, he also was not the last this time.

Once again it seemed like the people who had organised the class schedule for the year had decided to stick with the old method of lumping the Gryffindors with the Slytherins for this class.

Never a good combination.

So far the only Slytherins present were Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis. Blaise was talking to the two girls, but the conversations appeared to be one sided.

"…so Malfoy was all red in the face, yeah? And he did his usual "wait until my father hears about this" bit…"

Harry fought back the smirk that had threatened to break out onto his face upon hearing that. Although he insisted to everyone who commented on it that he had only been doing his job in punishing Malfoy, Harry had felt a good amount of satisfaction in finally being able to knock Malfoy down a peg in a way that did not involve Quidditch. Honestly, who wouldn't feel that way after having to put up with Malfoy's crap being directed at them for four years?

Blaise broke off when he and the other two noticed Harry's arrival.

Since that he was going to have to make nice with the Slytherins that evening at dinner, Harry figured that he might as well try and make some headway now, so offered up a simple "Hello."

Blaise turned away from him. Daphne kept her eyes on him, but her expression remained completely indifferent. Only Tracey actually acknowledged him, offering a small smile in return.

Any further attempts by Harry to break the ice with the Slytherins were halted by the arrival of Malfoy and his gang, Pansy Parkinson, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Millicent Bulstrode and Theodore Nott. Apparently Malfoy had been saying something really funny if their collective laughter was anything to go by.

That all quickly stopped, though, once they saw Harry standing there.

Ron and Hermione were the next to arrive, followed shortly after by Neville, Dean and Seamus. Then came Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. The remaining stragglers arrived mere moments before the dungeon door opened and the hook-nosed Professor Snape ordered them all inside.

Astonishingly, Snape failed to direct even one derogatory remark towards Harry for the entire lesson. For that matter, the normally rather vindictive man seemed to barely even acknowledge Harry's existence.

And it wasn't just Harry either. While not his worst ever mishap in potions, Neville's soothing solution producing copious amounts of purple smoke would normally have resulting in the potions Professor directing a verbal diatribe at the boy before vanishing his work, giving him a zero score and deducting twenty points from Gryffindor. Today, Snape merely vanished the smoke, bit out an angry "Cut the soy beans, Longbottom, don't crush them" and then swept away in a billow of black robes to correct Goyle's attempt.

From the table behind him, Harry heard Seamus whisper to Dean "What's with him?"

"Dunno," replied Dean "Maybe he's learned his lesson after Harry told him off at breakfast."

"Or maybe Dumbledore had words with him," offered the voice of Parvati "told him to keep his head down."

Harry thought on both of those possibilities as he diced up the kidney of a willow warbler. Is this was Snape's natural response to his and Harry's confrontation in the Great Hall earlier, then Harry had greatly underestimated them man's capabilities of self-restraint.

If, however, this new attitude was on Dumbledore's orders, Harry was certain that it was taking every ounce of will-power the man had to keep it going, and it was unlikely that it would be long before the cracks in the façade became obvious.

Sure enough, Snape let himself down at the end of the lesson.

"By now your soothing solutions should all now be a pale blue in colour. Please place a sample in a glass phial, label it with your name and bring it to the front to be marked."

All things considered, Harry thought that his soothing solution had turned out pretty well. The colour was slightly off, but he felt that it at least deserved a passing grade. It seemed to him that he was actually quite good at potions when Snape wasn't breathing down his neck and making his usual snide comments.

He momentarily forgot, however, that such a grade was only likely to be given to him by a fair teacher. And a fair teacher was something that Severus Snape was most certainly was not.

Harry gently poured some of the potion into one of his phials, stoppered the top and wrote his name on the label. Then he took it up to the front and placed it onto Snape's desk alongside several others. When he turned to head back to his table, he heard a smash and turned back to Snape's desk.

The man was wearing a superior sneer on his face, and the phial that Harry had placed on his desk was lying in smashed pieces on the floor of the classroom.

"Oh dear," said Snape "I do believe that will have to be a zero for today's lesson, Potter."

This wasn't the first time that Snape had pulled this stunt on him, only this time Harry wasn't going to put up with it. He pulled out his wand and cast a repairing charm on the smashed remains of the phial, which rose into the air and joined back together like some kind of 3D jigsaw puzzle. Harry took the mended phial back to his desk, poured some more of the potion into it, stoppered it and returned it to Snape's desk.

Every other student in that classroom was standing completely still, most hardly daring to breathe as Harry and Snape stared each other down. Several of them wondered if the long anticipated day in which one of the two finally snapped and killed the other was now upon them.

A minute of silence passed before Harry finally turned once again back towards the table where he had been working.

And once again there was a smash and his phial mysteriously fell from Snape's desk and crashed to the stone floor of the dungeon classroom.

All eyes were not on Harry, who bit down hard on his bottom lip to prevent himself from saying anything. He took out his wand and repaired the smashed phial once again before returning to his cauldron and filling the phial with the contents of the cauldron once more. He stoppered it and placed it down onto his desk. Then he took another three glass phials from his set of potions instruments and filled all three before stoppering each one and labelling them.

Next he vanished the remaining potion from the cauldron before, with a few flicks of his wand, he packed all his remaining equipment away. Then he picked up all four stoppered phials and, rather than place them all down on Snape's desk like they were all expecting him to, he walked towards the door of the classroom.

"Potter!" Snape shouted after him "Potions brewed by students are not allowed to be taken beyond the walls of this classroom!"

Harry ignored him. Cradling all four phials in one arm, he wrenched the door open with the other and marched out of the classroom and into the corridor beyond.

As he made his way up one of the staircases the bell rang to signal the end of the lesson and the start of their lunch hour. He quickly found himself in the corridor that led to the History of Magic classroom and he pushed his way by a group of third year students in order to get to the classroom.

Professor Umbridge was just coming out of her classroom when she spotted him.

"Potter, what in Merlin's name is the matter?" she asked.

Harry told her what had happened down in the dungeon classroom, and she wasn't happy at what she heard.

"How dare he try and sabotage the Ministry like this?" she demanded rhetorically.

"Uh, the Ministry?" asked Harry in confusion.

"Isn't it obvious? Potter, you were appointed to your new position by the Ministry. By sabotaging your classwork and failing you as a result, Professor Snape attempting to discredit not only you but the Ministry. He is attempting to make it appear as though we selected the wrong person for the job and therefore compromise our mission here."

Harry doubted that Snape's goal had anything to do with the Ministry and was just a simple manifestation of the man's usual malicious attitude towards him, but if spinning the story this way could be used to get rid of Snape sooner, then who was Harry to argue? The greasy haired git was already on their "to observe closely" list, and it was long past time that the students of Hogwarts were allowed to learn potions in a productive and encouraging environment, free from disparaging comments and hatred.

"At this moment we are, unfortunately, powerless to have him removed from the castle," Umbridge continued "We can, however, document this incident and use it to advantage at a later date. I trust that you will be lodging a formal complaint?"

"I will," answered Harry "but I doubt that Dumbledore will pay it any mind."

"Which is why you will make multiple copies of your complaint," said Umbridge "Keep one copy for yourself and make one for my own records, then we'll send one to the Board of Governors, one to the Wizarding Examinations Authority at the Ministry and then one for Dumbledore to ignore, as you say."

Harry nodded his head thoughtfully before asking "But what about the potion? Is there any way for its quality to be examined? I think it would help my case if I could say with honesty that my work was any good.

Umbridge appeared to think for a moment, and then said "Leave two of the phials here with me, and I'll arrange for Madam Marchbanks to look them over as soon as possible. Take the other two to Madam Pomfrey and asked her what she thinks of them. She should have a decent level of potions knowledge to make a fair judgement."

"Okay, thanks." replied Harry, handing over two of the phials "Oh, and before I forget, I managed to write out the reports on the misbehaving Slytherins."

He set down the last two potion phials and swung his bag off of his shoulder to fish out the completed forms.

He pulled out all twelve forms and began counting them out "So these four are for you, these four are for the Wizarding Examinations Authority, these four are for the school, and these four, well I thought I'd keep a copy of each report for myself."

"A very astute move, Mr Potter," said Umbridge "It always pays to keep a copy for yourself as you never know when you might need it. I would recommend doing the same for any homework you are given, especially if it is for potions."

"Right," Harry agreed, making sure to store that piece of advice in his mind "Thanks for the tip. Now, I had really better get down to the Great Hall. I'm supposed to eat lunch at the Ravenclaw table. Gotta be seen to be mixing. It's the best way to learn what's going on."

"Oh, I quite agree," replied Umbridge "I'll make sure that these get to the appropriate persons." she added, referencing the forms.

Harry stored the last two potions phials safely away in his box of potions equipment, which had its own compartment in his school bag. Then he left the classroom and headed down to the Great Hall. How much lunch he could eat, and how much talking he could do with the Ravenclaws would depend entirely on how quickly Snape could have Dumbledore charging to his defence.

* * *

Down in the Great Hall, Harry quickly noted that Snape was absent, as were Dumbledore and McGonagall.

A good number of the students' eyes turned towards him as he headed over to the Ravenclaw table. Conversations came to a halt as he passed, and Harry was fairly certain that he knew what topic they were all discussing.

Padma beckoned him over and he gratefully sat himself down in the empty seat located between her and small girl with dirty-blonde hair who appeared to be a fourth year.

"Afternoon, all" Harry offered in greeting as he sat down. He was correct of course, as it was nearly a quarter to one.

"And here he is," said Terry Boot from the opposite side of the table, a wide grin on his face.

"The man of the hour," added Michael Corner, who was sitting next to him.

"Man of the century more like," corrected Anthony Goldstein.

"What?" asked Harry, bemusedly.

"Don't give us that, Potter," said Michael "You know exactly what we mean."

"Yeah," agreed Terry "You faced down the overgrown bat of Slytherin House not once but twice!"

"And in the same day!" added Anthony "If that doesn't make you the man of the century, I don't know what does."

"There was no face-off between me and Snape," replied Harry as he spooned a helping of mashed potatoes onto his plate "Well, not since the one at breakfast, anyway."

"So what happened?" asked Padma anxiously "Because everyone's saying that the two of you had a massive fight in your potions class earlier."

"There was no fight," said Harry "Snape was just being a complete jackass and refused to mark my work, so I walked out of the lesson."

"Doesn't that send the wrong message though?" asked Lisa Turpin from her seat on Padma's other side "I mean you are the Student Advisor, surely walking out of the classroom sets a bad example."

Harry shook his head and replied "Actually I think that I set a very good example. Snape was being extremely unreasonable in his actions, so rather than stand there arguing until I was blue in the face and gaining myself a month's worth of detentions, I simply walked away from the situation. Snape was the one acting out of line, and I took the best course of action available to me by walking out of there before things could get worse."

"Well, when you put it like that…" said Lisa, trailing off thoughtfully.

"Are you going to lodge a complaint against him?" asked Padma.

"Yup," replied Harry as he used a piece of bread to mop up some of the gravy on his plate.

Terry snorted and said "Good luck with that. Snape's had loads of complaints made against him but nothing ever happens."

"Which is why copies of my complaint are going to be heading to the Board of Governors and the Wizarding Examinations Authority," replied Harry "Just because Dumbledore won't hear a bad word said about Snape doesn't mean that others aren't prepared to listen."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Anthony.

"He picks on you lot as well?" asked Harry.

"Not quite so much as he does the Gryffindors," replied Lisa "But yeah, he does."

"Though mostly our complaints are about his overall teaching style," said Michael.

"Or lack thereof," said the small blonde-haired girl.

Harry looked at her, and saw that she had wide, slightly protuberant eyes, and was wearing what appeared to be radishes for earrings, and a necklace of corks from butter beer bottles.

"Harry, this is Luna Lovegood," said Padma, politely making the introduction "Luna this is, well, I suppose you already know…"

"Hello, Luna," said Harry politely, holding out his hand.

She didn't shake it. In fact, it was doubtful that she even noticed it as she was staring so intently at his face.

"It's good to see that the wrackspurts have left you Harry. Your head was full of them last year during the tournament."

"Erm… thanks?" said Harry, not really sure how to take that.

Anthony had to look down at his plate to keep from laughing, and Terry bit down on his lip. Michael however showed no such restraint and snorted loudly.

Padma kicked him hard under the table.

"Snape does leave a lot to be desired," said Harry in a desperate attempt to return the conversation to its former topic.

However, that was before remembering another reason why he had wanted to sit with the Ravenclaws this lunchtime "By the way Padma, I've come up with a little plan for us this evening."

"Oh yeah," said Lisa with a grin "I forgot that Hogwarts' hottest new couple were having their first date toni- Ouch!"

Harry had the distinct impression that Lisa too had just gotten a good kicking under the table, once again courtesy of Padma.

The Ravenclaw Prefect glared at her wincing dorm mate before turning her attention back to Harry and asking with a pleasant smile "So what have you got planned for me?"

"That is a surprise," replied Harry mysteriously "Though fair warning, don't eat too much at dinner."

"Gotcha," replied Padma, before…

"Potter!"

Harry winced a little at the sound of Professor McGonagall's voice calling out loudly to him from across the Great Hall.

"Damn," he growled before getting to his feet and making his way over to the Deputy Headmistress.

"You know," said Padma "I've suddenly got a sinking feeling that my date tonight is going to be cancelled due to that greasy git."

Lisa patted her on the back sympathetically.

* * *

Harry followed along behind Professor McGonagall as the Transfiguration teacher led him up towards the Headmaster's office. He, like Padma, had a sinking feeling that their date tonight was going to be cancelled for them by outside forces, namely a greasy, bat-like git with a hooked nose and a twinkly-eyed, interfering old codger with a long white beard.

He wasn't paying too much attention to his surroundings, and so had nearly passed by the doors to the Hospital Wing before remembering that he needed to go in there.

"I've just got to pop in here for a minute," Harry announced to Professor McGonagall, who had not noticed that he had stopped walking.

She wheeled around and demanded "The Hospital Wing? Whatever for?"

"It'll just take a minute," Harry reiterated "I just need to see Madam Pomfrey about something."

"Surely whatever it is can wait until after the Headmaster-"

Harry ignored her and pushed open the doors of the Hospital Wing.

All of the beds were empty, and he found Madam Pomfrey sitting at her desk going over some paperwork, a steaming bowl of oxtail soup and a half eaten bread roll sitting off to one side.

Harry knocked on the door to her office and she turned around to face him.

"Ah, Mr Potter. I was wondering how long it would be before you paid me your first visit of the year."

Harry smiled at that. He did normally spend quite a bit of the school year in Madam Pomfrey's care.

"Unfortunately I am not here to seek medical attention just yet," he replied "I just need your opinion on something."

"Yes?" she asked, sounding suspicious.

Harry swung his bag off his shoulder and began fishing out his potions kit "It's about a potion, Madam Pomfrey. You know a bit about them, I trust?"

"Medical ones mostly," the matron replied.

"This is a soothing solution," said Harry.

She nodded and beckoned for him to place the two phials on her desk.

McGonagall tried to interrupt "Mr Potter, we really must get up to the Headmaster's office. This can wait until later."

"If the reason for my being dragged to the Headmaster's office is the one I am thinking of, then this needs to be done now." replied Harry without turning to look at her "Madam Pomfrey, in your professional opinion, is this soothing solution any good?"

Madam Pomfrey picked up one of the phials and held it up to examine it.

"Colour's a little off, but nothing too major."

She un-stoppered the phial and held it up to her nose to give it a sniff.

"The smell appears to be fine."

She reached for one of the drawers in her desk and pulled it out. From within she took what appeared to be the wizarding equivalent of a petri-dish, which she set onto her desk before pouring a few small drops of Harry's potion into it.

She picked up the petri-dish and swirled it around a bit before stopping to study the contents within.

"The viscosity is a little too runny, but all in all it appears to be fine."

"Really?" asked Harry.

"Yes. It's not a perfect example of the potion in question, but it is more than passable. If fed to a patient it will do the job required of it."

"Great," said Harry before asking "Listen, could you do me a favour and write that down for me?"

"I can, but why not ask Professor Snape?" asked the matron.

"It was Professor Snape who refused to give me a mark for it," replied Harry "Other than a resounding zero, of course."

Madam Pomfrey appeared to be surprised at what she had just heard. For a moment Harry wondered if she doubted his comments about Snape, but his worried were quickly proven unfounded when she asked "You brewed this?"

"Yeah, why?" asked Harry in puzzlement.

She stoppered the phial she had opened and handed it to him before replying "I oversee a small club on a Thursday evening for all of those who wish to practice brewing potions for healing purposes. It's normally for those with a real affinity for potions, but with a few lessons you should fit right in."

"Thank you," replied Harry "Hannah Abbott mentioned that club this morning at breakfast. I'll look into coming along."

"See that you do," said Madam Pomfrey "It's nice to see that some of your mother's talents were passed on to you. Until now I thought you had only inherited your father's flying skills and penchant for getting into mischief."

"Thank you," said Harry once again, feeling something bubbling up inside of him.

His mum had been good in the art of brewing potions. Sarah had mentioned that before now, but somehow hearing it from a medical professional like Madam Pomfrey allowed it to be fully confirmed in his mind. He didn't doubt Sarah, but there was always the chance that she was exaggerating a little about her old friends. But now it was confirmed.

And he, Harry, appeared to have inherited that talent.

Madam Pomfrey handed him a piece of parchment, on which she had written down her professional assessment of this potion and, after thanking her for her time, Harry followed Professor McGonagall out of the Hospital Wing.

As they made their way towards Dumbledore's office, Harry felt as though he was in some kind of bubble of joy.

His mum had been good at potions, and he had inherited that from her!

Of course, this realisation quickly led to the question of why had this talent not manifested itself in any way, shape or form before now?

He recalled his first trip to Diagon Alley. He remembered being particularly fascinated by the apothecary where the majority of the potions ingredients required for school were supplied, and when he had returned to his relatives' home in Privet Drive he had spent a good deal of his time learning what the basic tools for potion brewing were and how they were used.

He had so looked forwards to making bubbling and boiling concoctions of many kinds, to brewing up antidotes and preparing solutions that were designed to make people feel better.

What had happened to that feeling? What had happened to make him not only dislike potions, but also suppress his capabilities in the subject?

As he and Professor McGonagall entered Dumbledore's office, the answer to those questions appeared, looming over him like a greasy, over-grown bat with a superior sneer on his face.

The bubble of joy popped, and Harry steeled himself to once again face down the Headmaster, his lapdog and his pet potions master.

'_Another meeting with the Headmaster,'_ he thought, somewhat bitterly _'Well, this really must now be some kind of record. The first day of classes isn't even over yet…'_

* * *

**A/N: ****Sorry for the cliff hanger there, but look on the bright side! Not only is this the longest chapter of this story so far, but it is also the longest chapter of any story I have ever posted ever! So I hope you enjoyed it.**

**I hope you liked the History of Magic test. Just about all of the answers to the questions can be found on the Harry Potter Wikia, though any question for with the answer was more than just the year is made up. For example, while it is true that the first war against Voldemort began in 1970, the bit about it being on the 4th of July was made up. I could give you the answers to all of those questions, but then I'd be robbing my Ravenclaw-minded readers of the opportunity to find out for themselves, as I am sure they will.**

**On a side note I will say that in researching the questions, I found out that one of the oldest questions about the series as been answered by Pottermore. We've all puzzled over the location of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, but there is now an official answer to it. I won't bother with telling you here, but head over to the Harry Potter Wikia and do a search on Corvinus Gaunt. His bio page has all the answers!**


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